Tragedy struck a Thane family on its way to attend a funeral,
when their car plunged off the Mumbai-Pune Expressway into a nullah several feet below in Lonavala on Monday.
Three from the family of four, as well as the car driver, died on the
spot, and the deceased include two senior citizens. Another accident was also reported in the same area two hours later. According to police sources, the first accident occurred at around 2.15 pm in the Deole village on the Expressway. The Gandhi family from Shahpur was on its way to Pune to attend the funeral, when their car lost control and veered to the edge of the Pune-bound lane on the Expressway.
“The casualties could have been lesser, had the car not crashed through the concrete barricades and plunged into the nullah. The victims died due to drowning,” said Dilip Bhujbal, superintendent (Pune), Maharashtra highway police.
Eyewitnesses informed the highway police control room and rescue efforts commenced within an hour. Villagers from Deole also joined in the rescue efforts and the five victims were pulled out of the water, while the car was later fished out using a crane.
The deceased have been identified as Vasant Gandhi (75), Sarojini Gandhi (70), Jitendra Gandhi (52) and car driver Devidas Marathe (44). Miraculously, Jitendra’s wife Jayshree (51) survived with just minor injuries. The Lonavala Rural police has registered an incident report and is probing to check if there are enough grounds to book Marathe for causing the accident.
In another mishap, around two hours later, a Hyundai Accent travelling from Mumbai to Pune lost control and rammed into a Delta Force patrolling vehicle parked by the side on
the Expressway. The three occupants of the car, Yusuf Sheikh, Firoze Qureshi and Ahmed Sheikh have sustained injuries and are being treated at a hospital in Khandala, the police said.