Thane, Sep 16 (PTI) Four members of a family returning from Trimbakeshwar were killed, and seven others were injured when their MUV crashed into a burnt and abandoned truck on the Mumbai-Nashik Highway in Thane district of Maharashtra on Wednesday, police said.
The family from Jogeshwari in Mumbai was returning after taking darshan at the famous Lord Shiva temple in Trimbakeshwar in Nashik district, when the incident occurred near Atgaon village in Shahapur taluka in Thane in the afternoon.
According to the police, the victims were natives of Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, and currently resided in the Jogeshwari area of Mumbai.
“The family was travelling back to Mumbai in a multi-utility vehicle (MUV) when the driver reportedly suffered a mechanical failure, causing the vehicle to crash violently into the rear part of a burnt truck that had been abandoned on the roadside for the past two years,” an official said.
The impact was so severe that the front section of their vehicle was completely crushed, resulting in the immediate death of four occupants — Shriram Jaiswal, Ayush Jaiswal, Lado Jaiswal and Suraj Jaiswal.
Local residents and Highway Police rushed to the scene and carried out a rescue operation to pull the victims from the wreckage.
Seven other passengers — Subhi Jaiswal, Shivam Jaiswal, Hashik Jaiswal, Sunita Jaiswal, Radhika Jaiswal, Satish Jaiswal and Santram Jaiswal — sustained serious injuries and were immediately rushed to the Shahapur Sub-District Hospital for treatment, the official said.
The crash caused severe traffic congestion on the Mumbai-bound lane of the highway, stranding vehicles in long queues for nearly an hour. Police eventually used a crane to clear the wreckage and restore normal traffic movement.
Preliminary investigations by the Shahapur police suggest that a sudden brake failure followed by a locked steering wheel caused the driver to lose control.
A case has been registered at the Shahapur Police Station as authorities continue to investigate the exact cause of the crash. PTI COR NSK NP
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.