Truck driver killed, 3 hurt in pile-up of 4 heavy vehicles

PUNE: A 27-year-old container truck driver was killed and three others were injured in a pile-up involving a liquid nitrogen tanker, two container trucks and a truck on Sus bridge near Baner road along the Katraj-Dehu Road bypass, starting at around 12.30am on Wednesday.
One of the container trucks first crashed into the tanker that happened to be carrying around 23 tonnes of liquid nitrogen, from the rear. Soon another container truck rammed these two vehicles. While the police were removing the three heavy vehicles from the bypass, one more truck crashed into the piled up vehicles around 7.30am.

The deceased was driving the first of the container trucks that crashed into the tanker, police said. The three injured persons — two in the same container truck and the driver of the fourth vehicle involved in the pile-up — are being treated in a private hospital.

It took more than three hours and five cranes to separate the tanker from the container truck and mount it on another container truck.

Police had to divert the traffic to the service road. Two lanes on the bridge were also opened for the ease of traffic.

“Vehicular movement came to a standstill on the service road at times because many car drivers took the opposite lane on the highway in a hurry to reach their destination,” said Dattatreya Patil, the inspector of Hinjewadi traffic division.

Patil said the liquid nitrogen tanker was heading towards Mumbai when a speeding container, proceeding in the same direction, crashed in its rear around 12.30am. “The container truck’s cabin was damaged and the axles of the tanker’s rear wheels were broken,” he said.

Within a few minutes, another container truck rammed in the rear of the first container truck. “The driver of the container truck sandwiched between the two vehicles was stuck in the cabin. He was badly injured,” Patil said.

“The firemen had to cut the parts of the container’s cabin to remove the driver, Lukman Idrees (27), from Haryana. He later succumbed to injuries in a hospital,” the officer said.

Patil said as the accident occurred on the third lane along the bridge, vehicles were allowed to move along the other two lanes. “We also diverted the traffic through the service lane and deployed our force,” he said.

Barricades of no help

The police had installed barricades on the bridge to alert vehicles heading towards Mumbai about the pile-up. But a speeding truck did not notice them and rammed the third container around 7.30am. “The truck was transporting some powder from Belgavi to Mumbai,” Patil said.

Axles damaged

Patil said the axles of the tanker carrying liquid nitrogen were heavily damaged in the dash. “The company experts said after reaching the spot that it was not possible to drive or toe away the tanker from the spot. So, they decided to remove the tank from the vehicle and mount it on another container,” the officer said.

Patil said the experts also checked if there was any leakage of nitrogen. “Around 8 in the morning, the work of removing the tank began. Five cranes were used to remove and mount it on another container. It took almost three hours for safely mounting the tank,” Patil said.

He said that around 11am, the tank and the remaining three vehicles were shifted from the road.

“In less than half-an-hour, the traffic on the stretch was cleared,” Patil said.