Three men died and two others were injured when a Ford Ecosport car broke through a divider and hit a Maruti Omni van on the opposite carriageway, sparking an immediate blaze in both vehicles, in east Delhi’s Anand Vihar on Wednesday evening, the police said.

The impact of the crash was such that both vehicles were mangled, and charred in barely any time. Passersby and other motorists managed to pull out four of the five occupants of the two vehicles, but two of them died of injuries before they could be rushed to a hospital.

A third person, who was pulled out, had been charred to death, police said.

A fifth person was trapped inside the van and it took over two hours for his body to be pulled out.

Meghna Yadav, deputy commissioner of police (Shahdara), said two people were travelling in the Ecosport, that was moving from Anand Vihar towards Dilshad Garden. The Omni was occupied by three persons and was on the opposite carriageway, and moving towards Anand Vihar.

The incident took place between 6.15pm and 6.30pm while traffic was heavy on both carriageways of a flyover on the Ghazipur Road near Anand Vihar.

The police quoted eyewitnesses as saying that the Ecosport broke through the road divider and landed on the Omni van, immediately sparking a blaze. The exact sequence of events leading to the crash is yet to be determined.

“Since the flyover had no houses in the immediate vicinity, water couldn’t be immediately arranged to douse the flames. By the time two fire tenders arrived at the spot, the vehicles were charred entirely,” a police officer said.

The dead included two occupants of the van and one from the car. Yadav identified the people dead inside the van as Old Mustafabad-resident Shamshad, 28, and Abdul, more information about whom is unknown. The man killed in the Ecosport was Garv Sehgal, a 30-year-old resident of Krishna Nagar.

The injured have been identified as Imran, 28, who hails from Old Mustafabad and Akshay Jain, 21, a resident of Sarita Vihar. The initial probe has suggested that the van was being shared by two unrelated passengers, but it was unclear who the driver was and who the passengers.

Yadav said Jain is battling for his life, while Imran is fit to speak.

First Published: Jan 24, 2019 09:32 IST