Bus smashes into barrier in first elevated road accident

GHAZIABAD: A bus carrying wedding guests to Meerut crashed at high speed into the height barrier at the mouth of the Raj Nagar Extension elevated road as it turned left from the UP Gate flyover on Wednesday afternoon, leaving at least one of the passengers with serious injuries.
The impact sent Aniket (17), who was in the navigator’s seat, crashing through the windshield of the bus that came to a sudden halt after racing into the height barrier, which the driver apparently had failed to spot.

Aniket, who fell on the road, was rushed to Max hospital, a passenger said. The accident happened around 4pm. Police said the driver of the bus fled. It wasn’t known if he was injured.

This was the first accident on the elevated road since the 10km stretch was opened to traffic on March 30, and caused a traffic jam that choked the UP Gate flyover for Ghaziabad-bound traffic. The tailback extended over 2km. Police said it took half an hour restore usual traffic flow.

There were around 30 people in the bus that had started from Dwarka, among them several women and children. Dharmveer Saini, who was travelling in the bus with his family, said the driver was racing down NH-24, which has been recently widened and converted into a signal-free expressway till UP Gate.

“Aniket and Vicky were sitting on the seat adjacent to driver’s. Aniket suffered critical injuries on his face from glass shards and also in his left hand,” said Saini.

He said two others had suffered minor injuries. The company that is in charge of maintaining the elevated road rushed a crane to the spot that cleared the road in around 15 minutes. Veer Pal, the crane operator, said, “A crane and an ambulance remain stationed on the elevated road near Kanawani ramp. As soon we were informed of the accident, we rushed to the site.”

Rakesh Baliyan, who is in charge of UP Gate police outpost, said eyewitnesses had told cops the bus was travelling at a very high speed and the driver had failed to spot the height barrier even though there is signage ahead. “The driver fled the spot soon after the accident. We have not registered a case yet,” said Baliyan.

Heavy vehicles are not permitted on the elevated road and the height barriers have been installed at both ends.