Death At High Speed

Deputy Superintendent of Police (Pune rural) Ravindra Pardeshi said most of the victims were natives of Vavarhire village in Maan taluka of Satara district and were residing in Mumbai and its suburbs. They had gone to their village for a religious fair. The accident took place while returning.

The dead have been identified as BEST driver Jagannath Dhope (30),his wife Vaishali (22),Gajrabai Mahadev Kapse (45),Ravindra Kakasaheb Dhok (25),Seema Satish Dhope (25),her one-and-a-half-year-old son Shivam,Ramchandra Shankar Dhope (87),Balasaheb Laxman Dhok (54),his son Sandip (25) and the driver of the jeep,22-year-old Nitin Rupanvar,police said.

Among the injured were two-and-a-half-year-old Suyash Dhope,Nilambai Kapse (23),her husband Vijay Kapse (32),daughters Sharavni (3) and Shreya (8),Datta Ramchandra Dhope (40) and Madhukar Govind Dhope (50). Another driver Sachin Manik Hinge (22) of Dahiwadi in Satara was also injured.

They have been admitted to Sassoon Hospital.

According to the police,they left Dahiwadi in Satara around midnight. Around 4.30 am,when most passengers were asleep,the driver lost control and collided with a container on a slope about 200 metres from the new tunnel.

Local residents called police. The fire brigade was informed. A team of Haveli police station and fire brigade rushed to the spot. Station duty officer Prabhakar Umratkar of the fire brigade said they rescued nine persons with the help of local residents and admitted them to hospital.

Police have recorded the statement of the second driver Hange,who said the driver lost balance after a tyre burst. Police are investigating whether it burst before or after the impact.

The police also recorded the statement of container driver Annasaheb Chavan (35) of Sangli. According to his version,police said the jeep hit the container from behind and the rear tyres of the container burst. Chavan could halt the container only at Narhe Phata,about 1.5 kilometres from the accident spot.

Danger zone near tunnel: highway cops
The Maharashtra Highway Police had recently listed the two-km slope of the road entering the new tunnel at Katraj Ghat,as a danger zone.

Jay Jadhav,Superintendent,Highway Police,said the stretch (828 km to 830 km on NH4) starting from the tunnel to the bridge at Jambhulwadi had been identified as a danger spot during a survey of highways.

“After about half-a-km from the new tunnel,there is a continuous slope of two kilometres with sharp turns. It was listed as a black (danger) spot. This is not done on basis of the number of road mishaps. Our experts conduct a survey and identify the spots where accidents are likely,” Jadhav said.