19 vehicles damaged in pile-up on Samruddhi Expressway near Tadegaon, Buldhana

Nineteen vehicles were damaged in a chain collision on the Mumbai-bound carriageway of the Samruddhi Expressway near Tadegaon, close to Dusarbid in Buldhana district. The pile-up happened on November 13. A number of passengers were hurt, and some cars ended up on top of others.

The trouble started with a cement-laden container, registered MH-46-DC-0519. It bounced on a bridge near channel number 321.900 (another account puts the spot near channel 322). The driver lost control and the container overturned across all three lanes, which blocked the road completely. Highway police stopped traffic so the container could be removed, and a long queue built up behind it. By one account, more than 50 vehicles were waiting.

While the vehicles stood in line, a heavy vehicle came in at high speed from behind and hit the waiting traffic. One account calls it a truck, MH-40-BL-4911, and says it struck at 11.20 am. Another account says a heavy container hit the queue at about 1.30 am, while clearing work on the overturned cement truck was still going on. The filings differ on the timing, so it is not settled when the crash happened. The vehicles ahead were thrown into one another. Several cars were badly crushed, and some climbed onto others. One account says 18 cars and a police vehicle were among the 19 damaged. The driver of the speeding truck ran away from the spot.

On the number of injured, the accounts differ. One puts it at 13. Another says 30 passengers, including women and children, were hurt, and that one of them was in serious condition.

Police and members of the public began relief work and pulled out passengers who were trapped. Ambulances of the expressway, personnel of the Maharashtra Security Force, police from Sindkhed Raja and Kingaon Raja, and a medical team from the rural hospital also arrived. Some of the injured were given first aid in ambulances on the highway. About 10 to 12 were sent to Jalna for further treatment.

Among those treated at the rural hospital in Sindkhed Raja, Sarla Gajanan Kankal (42, Akola) has a fractured hand. Pratham Putti (8, Thane) has a serious head injury. Aradhya Manish Kakde and Manisha Manish Kakde, Rita Ashok Mashra and Mayank Ashok Mashra, and Swapnil Babarao Pandav, all from Pune, suffered minor injuries. So did Krishna Kapil Gautam and Shubham Salve of Akola. Gajanan Kankal, Anshul Agarwal, Shivansh Agarwal, Shivani Agarwal, Devesh Jhade and Priyanka Jhade were lightly hurt, along with others whose names are not known. One account says members of a family from Wardha were treated at the rural hospital.

The damaged vehicles were moved aside, which took a long time, and they are now at the Sindkhed Raja toll plaza. The truck and the earlier overturned container were removed, and traffic was brought back to normal. Motorists had to wait about two hours.

Many of those on the road were families who work or run businesses in Mumbai, Pune, Nashik and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. They had come home to Vidarbha for Diwali and Bhai Dooj and were driving back in their own vehicles.

The wrecked cars carried these registrations: GJ-16-FB-2894; MH-02-CB-3363; MH-03-DU-6488; MH-12-VZ-5494; MH-14-EY-0537; MH-14-KJ-5924; MH-14-KS-3131; MH-14-LA-2903; MH-25-BH-1158; MH-28-CC-6830; MH-30-AZ-9639; MH-30-BB-6646; MH-30-CB-2155; MH-31-FE-0876; MH-31-GD-0653; MH-31-RA-2932; MH-48-AC-4416; MH-49-AE-3808; and one filed as MH-HU-9648.

The accident has again raised questions about night travel, speed limits, safe following distance and road safety arrangements on the expressway. Driver negligence, speeding and disregard of safety rules can prove fatal even on a modern road.