Mumbai: In four separate mishaps that took place across the state in Buldhana, Nashik, on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and in Pimpalner-Sakri (Dhule district), 21 persons lost their lives and 32 others were injured on Sunday and Monday.
In the first instance, 13 people, including five women and two children, were killed and three injured when a truck overturned on their tempo on the Mumbai-Nagpur Highway in Buldhana district. The deceased were brick-kiln workers who were returning to their village after buying groceries. “The truck driver lost control after a tyre burst, following which the vehicle veered and fell on top of the tempo, crushing it.
Thirteen passengers of the tempo died instantly and three suffered grievous injuries. An accidental death case has been registered and a probe is underway,” the police said. In the second instance in Nashik district, four persons were killed and 15 others injured in the early hours of Monday when a truck rammed into a stationary tempo.
The tempo, carrying devotees from a temple in the district’s Kalwan tehsil, was parked by the roadside in Krishnagaon when the incident took place at around 12:30am, an official said. “A truck going towards Dindori from Nanduri hit the stalled tempo from the rear. Some people were in the process of getting down from the tempo and others were inside it.
Four persons were killed and 15 were injured,” he said. In the third accident, which unfolded on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, two persons were killed and 14 others injured when a Volvo tourist bus rammed into a stationary minibus. The condition of four of the injured is serious.
Finally, two bike-borne men were killed when the motorcycle on which they were riding was allegedly hit by a vehicle belonging to an MLA. The accident occurred on Sunday afternoon on the Pimpalner-Sakri Road. Following the mishap, locals blocked the route for some time, demanding action against the MLA.
