3 cops among 7 killed in Expressway crash

“A police crane and a Tavera used for patrolling arrived to help pull out the man stuck in the trolley,” Ashok Kumar,Senior Superintendent of Police,Gautam Budh Nagar,said.

A head constable with two home guards also reached Wazidpura,Sector 134,through which the Expressway passes. “They called passersby for help and managed to mobilise a total of 19 people,including three policemen,the crane driver and the Tavera driver,” the SSP said.

While the rescue operation was on,a speeding container (HR55G2941),coming from a Honda factory in Greater Noida headed for Pune,hit the crane and the trolley killing seven people and injuring 12.

“The condition of the two victims,Dharmendra and Mukesh,is serious. Both are in Noida’s Vinayak Hospital,” Gurbachan Lal,the Inspector General said.

Head constable K K Tyagi,home guards Sanjay and Ashok Kumar,Tavera driver Mukesh,helper of the crane Net Ram,passersby Ramesh and Kafil were crushed by the speeding container. Twelve others,including two in critical condition,were admitted to the Vinayak and Prakash hospitals.

Lal said compensation will be given in consultation with the Noida Authority officials. On why the administration is not paying heed to the increasing accidents on the Expressway,Lal said,“We’re going to meet authority officials in the evening to discuss why so many accidents are taking place.”

The driver of the container and the helper fled the scene of the accident. “We will arrest them soon,” said the SSP.

Fatal blunder
In a fatal slip,the policemen who rushed to rescue the grain trolley driver did not put up barricades to prevent vehicles from crashing into the rescue operations site. Gautam Budh Nagar does not have traffic policemen in adequate numbers. Home guards,who are not trained in rescue operations,were roped in. “We do not have enough traffic policemen and have to make do with home guards instead,” I G Lal said. The police also admitted that the Expressway is not lit enough to avoid accidents.