Due to the lackadaisical attitude of a truck driver, who parked his truck on National Highway 6 to grab a quick snack at a nearby Dhaba, an over-speeding Tata Safari coming from the rear crashed into it, instantly killing five persons sitting inside the car, including an eight-year-old girl, early on Wednesday morning at Katol city, in the Nagpur district.
The mishap left a 74-year-old man seated in the car beheaded, which was witnessed by his 10-year-old grandson and 12-year-old granddaughter who luckily survived.
According to the Kondhali police station, the accident took place at around 6.30 am on the Nagpur-Amravati Road in Ringana Bodi Gaon. “The other motorists who saw the accident said that the car was being driven at 150 km/ph,” said senior inspector, Suresh Bhoyr.
It took over an hour for the rescuers to pull out the body from the mangled remains of the car. The two children who survived the accident suffered minor injuries,”said Mr Bhoyr.
All the deceased are from Allahabad and were returning home from Mumbai. They have been identified as Dharmaraj Singh (74), his wife Rajan (65), his daughter-in-law Pratibha Singh (35), her daughter Priya (8) and relative Narendra Yadav (45). Pratibha’s husband is a businessman. Pratibha’s children Pratik and Preeti survived. “We have booked both the drivers for causing death due to negligence. The truck driver has been arrested, but the car’s driver, Sandeep Pandey (25), is in critical condition, having suffered severe head injuries and other internal injuries,” added Mr Bhoyr.