Cyrus Mistry's death: Forensic team blames 'faulty bridge design' responsible for car crash

The faulty design of the bridge is the reason behind the accident of the Mercedes Benz SUV in which Cyrus Mistry was travelling along with three others, which led to the death of billionaire industrialist and his friend Jehangir Pandole, a forensic team investigating the crash has confirmed.

The seven-member forensic team investigating the crash that killed the businessman and one another gave their conclusion stating that the Mercedes-Benz SUV met with an accident due to the "faulty design" of the bridge, while the deaths occurred as the rear seat occupants were not wearing seat belts.

"We have concluded that there was an infrastructure issue that led to the crash. The bridge parapet wall was found to be protruding into the shoulder lane. The design has been found to be faulty," a source told Time of India.

"This crash is a grim reminder of how overspeeding when combined with poor road infrastructure and casual attitude towards safety equipment such as seatbelts can take away lives," India Today quoted Piyush Tewari, CEO of SaveLIFE Foundation as saying.

The NGO is working in collaboration with the Maharashtra police and helping in the investigation.

Cyrus Mistry, former chairman of Tata Sons was killed in a road accident after his car rammed a divider in Maharashtra's Palghar on Sunday afternoon. He was 54. The accident reportedly took place on the Surya River Charoti bridge on the Mumbai Ahmedabad National Highway.

Eyewitnesses have said the car was trying to overtake another vehicle at high speed when it hit the road divider on a bridge across the Surya river. Mistry and Jehangir Pandole died on the spot.

Mistry was travelling in Rs. 70 lakh first-gen Mercedes-Benz GLC SUV and the unfortunate incident has raised questions on road safety and car safety standards.

The GLC was awarded the highest 5-star safety rating by Euro NCAP and was based on the MRA architecture but still could not save the passengers.

Meanwhile, as per a survey report, in the past two years, 100 people have died and nearly 50 have sustained injuries between Manor (Palghar) and Achad (Gujarat) on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway. This 52-km stretch has nearly a dozen accident spots, including the bridge over the Surya river.

The ‘accident black spot’ where Mistry and his friend Jehangir Pandole died on Sunday is a narrow road that gets reduced to two lanes because of an oddly designed divider over the river.

Statistics provided by the state highway safety police have revealed that there is a manifold increase in traffic violation instances of motorists not wearing seat belts in the state. In 2022 9.14 lakh challans amounting to a total of Rs 23.09 crore were issued from January till September 4 for violating traffic rules.

Experts and users have called for greater awareness and action to ensure there are no fatalities and accidents on highways post-Cyrus Mistry's death.

RK Padmanabhan, former additional director general of police (traffic), Maharashtra, said that traffic discipline issues are more important and need to be taken up speedily.

As per data released by the National Crime Records Bureau, more than one person died every hour in Maharashtra in road-related crashes in 2021. With 13,911 casualties, the state is worst ranked after Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

(with sources inputs)