Air ambulances to be deployed on Samruddhi Expressway

An official said that the government has initiated talks with different helicopter supplier companies to procure air ambulances.

“When accident takes place on the Samruddhi Expressway, an air ambulance will be deployed to evacuate the injured to hospitals. With this, the lives of those seriously injured can be saved. The decision has been taken to prevent deaths due to delay in treatment,” the official said.

“The state government will enter into agreements with several private hospitals located near the highway between Nagpur and Mumbai so that the patients brought by the air ambulance can get quick treatment,” he added.

The decision comes more than a week after 25 people were killed when the bus they were traveling in caught fire on the expressway.

The Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway has seen an average of three accidents every day since it was thrown open for public in December last year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The 701-kilometre road, which is the country’s second longest expressway, sees a life being lost every third day. So far, 846 accidents have taken place on the strech of which 105 were fatal.

The six-lane road is a completely Greenfield project which is constructed by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC).

While its swathes of six-lane concrete roads with clear lane markings are deemed to be a delight for drivers, its arrow straight lanes also pose a unique problem of visual fatigue with the driver witnessing the same scenery and having to drive on a monotonous road stretch.