Four people, three of them women, were killed, while two others were seriously injured in an accident on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway on Saturday afternoon, the police said.
The accident happened at 2.15 p.m. after the Adoshi tunnel crossing at a slope, two kilometre from the food court in Khopoli. The Ertiga car coming from Pune to Mumbai, carrying seven people including the driver, rammed into the trailer which was in front. “The driver was probably overspeeding and lost control, and rammed into the trailer. The driver may have been sleepy,” Deputy Commissioner of Police, Highway, Vijay Patil said.
Of the four deceased, two were identified as Janaki Nandakumar Nanekar (27) from Vadavali village in Ambernath, and Sushmit Abhijeet Mutha (22), a resident of Ahmednagar. Pratik Jadhav (26), a resident of Pune, who was driving the car, fractured his leg and is admitted at MGM hospital, Kalamboli. “We got a call around 2.15 p.m. about the accident. The doors of the car were locked so we broke it open and removed the bodies and rescued the survivors. Two women and a man died on the spot. One person received minor injuries. The three who were seriously injured were taken to MGM hospital where we later learned that one woman, Rani Gaur (25), a resident of Madhya Pradesh, died during treatment,” police sub inspector Suryakant Pharate, Highway police, said. Another injured admitted in hospital is Preeti Rami, 35. Police is yet to identify the third lady who died on the spot.
“We suspect it was a share car as the passengers were from different places. We are yet to get the names and details of the others,” sub-inspector Shrirang Kisave from Khopoli police station said.