The driver of the truck lost control of the vehicle near the Khopoli exit point. (Express Photo)Four persons died and five were injured in an accident near the Khopoli exit point on the Pune-Mumbai Expressway on Friday morning. The accident took place at about 11 am, when the driver of the truck lost control of the vehicle, and it rammed into three cars on the opposite lane.
Police have identified the deceased as Chitra Avinash Angre (42), her daughter Nikita Avinash Angre (25), Mrunalini Shrikant Kudekar (60) and Hasan Mehboonshah Patel (28). While Chitra, Nikita and Mrunalini were residents of Pune, Hasan was a resident of Osmanabad.
Chitra’s husband, Avinash Narayan Angre (45), was among the five persons injured in the accident. Two of them sustained minor injuries and were discharged after treatment. Two others, Jitendra Bhaskar Birare and Vithu, sustained serious injuries and they, along with Avinash, have been hospitalised.
According to the highway police, the truck was carrying cement and heading towards Mumbai. After crossing the Adoshi tunnel, while trying to manoeuvre the vehicle on a slope, the driver lost control of the truck. The vehicle crossed the road divider and rammed into three cars on the lane towards Pune.
The impact was so severe that one of the cars was flung in the air, after which it fell into a 70-feet deep trench on the side of the road. Another car was crushed in the accident.
The deceased included three persons from the two cars and one person from the truck. The driver of the third car, Arjunbhai Tapiyawala, lodged the first information report in the case at the Khopoli police station.
Meanwhile, cement bags that were inside the truck fell on the expressway following the mishap. Teams of Khopoli police, highway police and IRB company rushed to the spot and cleared the road with cranes. The accident led to a traffic jam on the expressway for some time.
