SUV rams into divider as driver dozes off, 4 killed

Surat: Four persons were killed and one injured when driver of a compact SUV lost control of the vehicle and rammed it into the divider on an overbridge near Ena village of Bardoli taluka on Surat-Dhuliya highway early morning on Thursday.

The occupants of the SUV were residents of Kantali village of Bardoli and were returning after watching India-New Zealand cricket one-day international cricket match in Pune.

The deceased were identified as Chirag Patel (24), Paresh R Patel (47), Jitendra B Patel (49) and Mahesh S Patel (27). They died on the spot. Janak M Patel miraculously escaped with minor injuries.

The group began the return journey from Pune at around 10pm on Wednesday. Two of the five passengers could drive and so they took turns to drive. Chirag took over the wheels after Vapi.

"However, at around 5.45am on Thursday, Chirag allegedly dozed off while driving and lost control of the vehicle. He rammed the SUV into the divider on the overbridge some 25km from Surat," the police said.