An accident on the National Highway 3 left 10 Kalyan residents dead and 14 others injured in the early hours of Thursday.
According to the Chandwad police, the incident occurred near Adgaon on the Mumbai-Agra highway around 5.30 a.m.
The police said the victims were returning home from Madhya Pradesh in a minibus when the vehicle’s right rear tyre burst, causing the driver to lose control. “The minibus careened to the side of the road at a high speed and rammed into a 10-wheeler container truck parked to the left. The truck, too, had a burst tyre that was being repaired,” an officer with the Chandwad police station said.
The impact of the collision damaged the minibus severely, bending it out of shape and trapping its occupants inside. Employees of hotels along the highway, who witnessed the accident, called the Nashik Rural Police control room. Several police teams rushed to the spot, and ambulances from the nearby toll plaza were diverted to the scene.
All the victims were pulled out of the wreckage and rushed to Nashik Civil Hospital, where 10 of them, including a 65-year-old woman and a seven-year-old boy, were declared dead before admission.
The other 14 were referred to Suyash Hospital in Nashik, where they are being treated.
Returning home
“Inquiries so far indicate that the victims were all residents of Kalyan and had gone to Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh for a pilgrimage. They were on their way back home when the accident occurred,” inspector Anant Mohite, Chandwad police station, said.
The victims include conservancy workers of the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation and their families, officials said. The deceased have been identified as Jagruti Ghawri (35), Laxmibai Parmar (65), Kau Chavan (48), Kisan Chavan (58), Gujan Valodara (24), Pawan Ghawri (7), Nisha Ghawri (16), Gita Parmar (45), Prakash Ghawri (35) and Gita Mohan Parmar (40).
The police have registered an accidental death report and are conducting inquiries to find out what might have caused the tyre to burst. Prima facie, it is believed that the minibus was travelling at a very high speed. A team of experts will examine the minibus on Friday. Inquiries will also be made with the 14 survivors.