4 of a family among 7 killed as two cars collide near Lonavla

PUNE: Seven persons, including four members of a family from Mundhwa in Pune, were killed on the spot and three teenagers injured in a head-on collision between two cars at Karla phata on the old Pune-Mumbai highway near Lonavla, about 60km from here, late on Sunday afternoon.

An official from the Lonavla rural police said, "One of the cars, a Maruti Swift, which was heading towards Mumbai, lost control and jumped over the road divider before colliding head-on with the other car, a Santro, which was on its way to Pune. The impact of the collision was such that three occupants of the Swift and four members of the family travelling in the Santro were killed on the spot. The three injured teenagers in the Swift were removed to a private hospital at Kanhe phata. Both vehicles were moving at high speed."

The accident led to a traffic jam on the highway for nearly a couple of hours before the authorities managed to clear the road of the wreckage of the two cars.

Lonavla witnesses a huge surge in the number of tourists and visitors from Pune, Mumbai and other places during the monsoons, particularly over the weekends. On Sunday too, long queues of vehicles were seen on the highway with people making their way to Lonavla.

Police identified the deceased as Krishna Ramesh Shirsath (22), who was driving the Swift car, and his friends, Sanjiv Mohansingh Kushwah (17) and Nikhil Balaji Sarode (20), all residents of Rahatni near Kalewadi. The deceased travelling in the Santro car were Rajiv Jagannath Bahirat (52), a manager with a leading multinational company in Pune, his wife, Sonali (46), daughter Janhavi (20) and father Jagannath (83). Bahirat was at the wheel. The family lived at Kalashankarnagar on B T Kawade road in Mundhwa, police said.

The three injured victims, who are undergoing treatment at a private hospital, were identified as Pratik Balaji Sarode (18), Akash Madane (17) and Rohit Kad (16), all residents of Pune city.

Lonavla rural police inspector Ramdas Ingawale told TOI, "Shirsath, who works with a private company, was driving the self-owned white-coloured Swift car. Among the other deceased, Sarode was also working with a private company in Pune while Kushwah was running a pani-puri kiosk in Pimpri. The injured victims-Pratik Sarode, Madane and Kad-are unemployed youngsters and school dropouts. They come from lower middle-class families and reside in the same locality at Rahatni."

Shirsath and his group had planned the trip to Lonavla-Khandala two days back. The Bahirats were on their way back to Pune after visiting Lonavla.