Noida: Five members of a family died after the WagonR in which they were travelling crashed into a truck parked on the Noida expressway on Sunday morning.
The accident occurred near Sector 146 metro station in Greater Noida around 6am when the five were returning from Child PGI hospital, where the daughter of a relative is admitted. The truck parked on the expressway had flat tyres – and its driver had gone to look for a mechanic, leaving the vehicle by the side of the road without any warning signs.
Aman, a daily wager, was driving the WagonR – HR 51BY 1774 – back home to Ghodi Bacheda village in Dadri with his father Devi Singh, mother Rajkumari and two maternal aunts Vimlesh and Kamlesh when he crashed into the truck from behind.
Police suspect he had dozed off after staying awake the previous night at Child PGI.
"Since the expressway was empty that early in the morning, the car was being driven at high speed. So, the impact was severe when the WagonR rammed the truck. The car was mangled and its occupants were trapped inside," said Ashok Kumar, additional deputy commissioner of police, Greater Noida.
Informed by passersby, a team arrived from Knowledge Park police station. Four of the occupants were brought out of the car and rushed to a nearby hospital, where they were declared dead on arrival.
Aman, who was behind the wheel, was stuck inside the mangled car. The police team had to cut open the vehicle to bring him out. Two hours had already passed by then and Aman had died on the spot.
"He is likely to have dozed off at the wheel, causing the car to swerve towards the left and crash into the parked truck. The truck had broken down merely half an hour earlier after two of its tyres were flat. The driver had gone to get a mechanic when the accident occurred," said a senior police officer at Knowledge Park police station.
Since it was a Sunday and most offices stayed shut, a traffic snarl was spared on the expressway. "We cleared the vehicles using a crane. The bodies were handed over to the families after an autopsy," Kumar said.
It was merely a week ago that tragedy struck the family. Aman, the primary earning member, lost his two-year-old daughter to illness a day before Diwali.
"He was the backbone of his family. This tragedy is unimaginable," said Sunil, Aman's friend who arrived at the hospital to take the bodies back.
Back home in Ghodi Bacheda village, Aman's wife collapsed after hearing the news of her husband's death. She has two children – aged five and seven years – to raise.
"Aman's younger brother Sonu studies in Class 11. He wanted to pursue higher studies so that he could bring the family out of poverty. But it seems he will now have to look for a job to augment the family income," Sunil said.
An FIR was registered against the truck driver under Section 106 (death due to negligence) of BNS. Parking isn't allowed on the expressway because of the sheer speed at which vehicles pass by.
"The truck driver is untraceable. We are scanning CCTV footage and gathering inputs to track him down," said a senior officer.
Earlier in the day, chief minister Yogi Adityanath asked officials to reach the spot and expedite relief work. "The chief minister took cognisance of the road accident in Greater Noida and expressed condolences to the bereaved family members of the deceased," a statement from the CM office read.
MP Mahesh Sharma also met Aman's family members and offered his condolences. "I am deeply saddened to hear the heartbreaking news of the untimely death of five members of a family in the tragic accident on the Greater Noida Expressway. I pray to God to give place to the departed souls in his feet and provide strength to the victims and their families to endure this," he posted on X.