Mumbai - Twenty-seven members of a wedding party, including four children, were killed while dozens were injured when a speeding truck rammed into two parked mini buses near Khalapur toll station, Raigad district, on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.
Eleven of the injured are in serious condition.
The victims were returning to Yerawada in Pune after attending a wedding in Ghatkopar, Mumbai.
The accident occurred at around 1am Sunday after a speeding truck lost control and rammed the minibus from the rear, crushing the passengers who were mostly sleeping. The initial impact caused the minibus to hit the bus parked in front of it.
“We have arrested the driver of the truck as it was entirely his fault,” S. N. Shinde, a police officer at Khalapur police station told Gulf News.
According to police, the newly-married couple was safe as they were travelling separately.
“The injured have been admitted to Ashtavinayak Hospital, Panvel, and Pune’s Sasoon Hospital where three victims were pronounced dead on arrival,” police said.
Negligence
Chandmal Parmar, an activist and member of a steering committee of Ministry of Transport and Highways, told Gulf News that the accident should be attributed to the negligence of the Regional Transport Office since it has not implemented a 2008 directive requiring vehicles to have reflectors.
The tragedy could have been avoided if the “tail lamps and brake lights of the buses were on. The driver, who was obviously driving at speed, did not see the parked buses in the dark,” he said.
