11 killed, 3 injured in accident near Wani

Chandrapur: Eleven people, including a one-year-old kid and seven women, were killed and three others were seriously injured after a truck rammed into a taxi carrying labourers on Korpana-Wani Road on Saturday night. One more year-old boy had a miraculous escape. One of the three injured is learnt to be critical, and has been sent to Nagpur for treatment.
Police sources claimed that the victims were mostly labourers from Wani and Mahagaon tehsils of Yavatmal, who had gone to a cotton ginning factory at Korpana in search of work. As they could not get work, 12 adults, including eight women, took a taxi to return to Wani at around 8.30pm from Korpana. The women had two breast-feeding boys aged around one year with them.

Taxi driver Sujit Davre was with his cleaner mate Prashil Durge from Wani. Mere 2km from Korpana on Wani state highway, near Tambdi Heti village, the taxi collided with a truck coming from the opposite direction. The truck had apparently gone out of control and rammed the taxi after its front left tyre suddenly burst, speculated PSO Korpana Gajanan Kosankar.

Seven women, a boy and the taxi driver were killed on the spot. A police team rushed to the spot on getting information and removed the dead bodies and injured passengers from the mangled taxi.

Those who died on the spot include taxi driver Sujit Davre (25), Parvatabai Gedam (45), Chhaya Lohkare (44), Khatunbi Pathan (44), Sangita Tekam (30) (all of Wani), Shobha Nibrad (55), Amol Hatkar (22), Kusum Hatkar (32) and her son Krish Hatkar (1), all residents of Mandvakad in Mahagaon tehsil.

Five injured were rescued from the taxi and rushed to Korpana rural hospital. One of them, identified as Vanita Navghare, died at Korpana, while remaining four were referred to Chandrapur GMCH for emergency treatment. Injured Gajanan Navghare died at Chandrapur on Sunday morning. One other injured Devanand Hatkar was rushed to Nagpur in critical condition on Sunday. Two others, Summaya Sheikh (25) and conductor of taxi Prashil Durge, are being treated at Chandrapur, sources said.

One-year-old boy Adiya Navghare travelling in the taxi miraculously escaped in the accident while his parents died. He was handed over to his kin after they came to Korpana on Sunday, PSO Kosankar said. The Navghares belong to Uri village, also in Wani tehsil. The unidentified truck drive fled the spot, leaving his truck behind, after the accident.

Korpana-Wani is a busy state highway with a lot of goods vehicles. As it is a short route connecting Yavatmal and Nagpur to industrial belt of Korpana, comprising three big cement plants, the road is used by heavy transport vehicles.

Kosankar said the patch of road at the accident site is in good condition, but not wide enough. The taxi was also overloaded with passengers. There were a total of 14 adults and two infants in the taxi having capacity of just seven seats. Source claimed that there is good passenger traffic between Korpana and Wani, with few MSRTC buses on the route, and people preferring to travel in taxis and autorickshaws.