“I was in the hostel when I got a notification on a WhatsApp group from Abhinava, who said that she and others had met with an accident on Yamuna Expressway and needed help. She also sent the GPS location of the crash site,” said a doctor, who is a batchmate of the victims who were injured in the horrific accident on Sunday.
“We initially thought it was a minor accident but later members of the WhatsApp group posted news about the demise of Dr. Harshad Wankhade, Dr. Yashpreet Singh and Dr. Himbala Taneja,” added the doctor.
Three AIIMS doctors were killed when the vehicle they were travelling in rammed a mini-truck on the Expressway early on Sunday. Four more doctors were injured.
“Dr. Wankhade was from Balapur in Akola district of Maharashtra, Dr. Singh was from Fazilka district in Punjab, and Dr. Taneja belonged to Yamuna Nagar in Haryana,” said a senior AIIMS doctor.
Except for Dr. Wankhade, who was senior resident doctor, the rest of the passengers in the vehicle were batchmates.
On Saturday, they had gone to celebrate Dr. Wankhade’s birthday at Connaught Place. Finding it crowded, the group made an impromptu decision to go to Agra.
‘Out of danger’
“All seven doctors left in Dr. Wankhade’s car. The car was being driven by Dr. Wankhade. Dr. Singh was sitting next to him, while the other five doctors were sitting in the back,” said Dr. Rajesh Malhotra, chief of AIIMS trauma care centre.
“The family members of the deceased doctors have reached Mathura. The bodies have been handed over to them for last rites,” said a doctor.
Chairperson of the Media and Protocol division of AIIMS (New Delhi) Aarti Vij told journalists that the injured doctors were Dr. Abhinava Singh, from Bhagalpur in Bihar; Dr. Catherine Halam from Tripura; Dr. Mahesh Kumar from Madhubani in Bihar; and Dr. Jitender Mourya from Hamirpur.
“They were all shifted to AIIMS trauma centre for treatment. A team of doctors are monitoring the injured,” Ms. Vij said in a statement. She added that the injured doctors are out of danger.
