3 days,3 accidents,18 dead

The accident occurred around 2 am when the driver of the truck ,carrying chillies from Karnataka,lost control when he tried to avoid a vehicle that sped into the highway from a service road near Sai Expressway petrol pump. It rammed into another truck loaded with scrap. Meanwhile,a car which was behind the truck dashed into it and fell into a pit.

Seven are reported injured,of this condition of four is said to be critical.

This is the third consecutive day that Pune has witnessed fatal accidents. On Monday,10 persons travelling in a jeep from Satara to Mumbai had lost their lives in an accident near Katraj tunnel while on Tuesday,four lost their lives on Pune-Solapur highway.

According to Ganpat Madgulkar,senior inspector of Hinjewadi police station,the four killed in Wednesday’s accident are Tanaji Dinkar Kumbhar (25) residing in Santa Cruz,Mumbai,Ajit alias Satappa Irgar (25) from Belgaum,Tejashree Prahlad Mohite (35) from Chembur,Mumbai and Sandeep Bhimrai Khuje (30) from Sangli. They were travelling in the two trucks.

Four others — Balashe Sidappa Teli (24) from Belgaum,Pritam Jagannath Kalbhor (25) from Karhad,Indrajit Sambhaji Mohite (45) from Sangli and an unidentified man — who were also in the trucks are critically injured and undergoing treatment at Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital in Thergaon.

While the two passengers in the car — Raghunath Awate (40) from Navi Mumbai and Nitin Shinde (35) from Bhiwandi — escaped with minor injuries,driver Pramod Vasant Chavan (30) from Sanghvi has been admitted to Medipoint Hospital with serious injuries.

“The truck was trying to evade a vehicle coming from a service lane into the highway. The service road connects the highway at 90 degrees. Ideally,it should be around 30 to 45 degrees to ensure better visibility,” said DCP Manoj Patil (traffic). He said the traffic department has identified similar faulty access roads on Mumbai-Bangalore highway and are following up with the National Highway Authority of India to get them corrected.

The Katraj ghat accident took place at a spot blacklisted by the Maharashtra Highway Police.

Jay Jadhav,Superintendent,Highway Police,had said on Monday that the 200-metre stretch,from the new Katraj tunnel to the bridge at Jambhulwadi,was identified as a danger spot in a recent survey.

Death on road

On Monday: 10 persons killed when a jeep hit a container truck near Katraj tunnel

On Tuesday: 4 killed in a truck-jeep collision on Pune-Solapur highway in Daund

On Wednesday: 4 killed as trucks collide near Hinjewadi