Three members of a family were killed while three others were seriously injured after their Tata Sumo collided head on with a truck on the accident-prone Mumbai-Goa highway in Raigad district early on Tuesday.
The accident took place at around 6 am in
the Mangaon area of Raigad district where the road does not have a divider. Around 10 people, including the driver, were travelling in the Sumo.
“The truck was on its way to Goregaon in Raigad and the Sumo was heading towards Mumbai. The truck driver was speeding and should have stuck to the left side of the narrow road, but he was driving in the centre,” said assistant inspector B.N. Hatmode of Mangaon police station.
“We are also probing to see if the Tata Sumo driver, in a bid to overtake another vehicle, moved out of the left lane and came to the centre,” added Mr Hatmode.
The deceased, Chandrakant Sonar (46), his son Anish Sonar (12), Rajashree Vedak (45) were killed in the accident while Rajashree’s husband Hemant, his son Sumit and Ms Sonar have suffered grievous head injuries. The others are said to be out of danger.
The injured have been shifted to KEM Hospital in Mumbai for further treatment. All of them are residents of Dahisar (west) and had set off from their hometown in the Sindhudurg district on Tuesday night, where they had gone to attend a puja.
The driver of the truck, Dadasaheb Kude (39), has been arrested for causing death due to negligence under Section 304 A of the IPC. Kude’s blood samples have been examined, which ascertained that he was not under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident.