Four persons died and several others were injured in three separate accidents on the Yamuna expressway on Saturday. All three incidents happened in Gautambudh Nagar district.
In the first accident, a speeding Swift Dzire hit a slow moving dumper due to fog on the Agra-Greater Noida side of the expressway. The car driver, Pankaj Kumar (30), died on the spot, while two other occupants — Brij Bihari Sharma (40) and Anurag Sharma (25) — were critically injured.
Brij Bihari, a businessman, hails from Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh. He was on his way to Uttarakhand when the accident happened around 8:30 am. The car was around 25 km from zero point.
Dense fog led to pile-up
According to officials of Jaypee Group, the expressway toll operator, there was dense fog and low visibility in the morning. This led to a pile-up of around 10 cars. Some passersby informed the police about the accident. A police team from Kasna and another from Eco Tech 1 police station reached the spot and rushed the victims to different hospitals.
“Prima facie, it seems that the Swift Dzire driver could not apply brakes in time and rammed the dumper. The car was badly damaged and the occupants were caught inside,” said a police officer.
Jurisdiction issues
The victims were rushed to Kailash Hospital where Pankaj was declared brought dead. “Brij Bihari and Anurag have suffered multiple fractures. They are in ICU and their condition is stable,” said a doctor. The dumper driver fled the spot after the accident.
Others injured in the pile-up were identified as Gaurav Mani Tripathi, Suresh Mandal and Onkar Singh. Five other persons received minor injuries and were discharged from the hospital after first-aid.
Though police teams from two stations reached the spot, none of them filed a report saying the incident took place beyond the area of their jurisdiction. Later, Arun Kumar, Circle Officer 1 Greater Noida, said the Kasna police station has completed the formalities and filed a report.
No ambulance for victims
In the second accident, a 30-year-old man and his elderly mother died after they were hit by an unknown speeding vehicle near Sports City on Saturday afternoon. Anil Kumar and Maya Devi, residents of Nangla Villag in Jewar, were going on a motorcycle when the accident happened.
The collision was so severe that the front wheel of the motorbike came out and the two victims were critically injured. A police team reached the spot but without an ambulance. They called an autorickshaw, which reached the spot after one hour.
Rajpal Tomar, SHO, Dankaur, said the victims had already died by the time the police team reached the spot. “The bodies have been sent for post-mortem. We are also trying to identify and arrest the accused,” he said.
Driver dead
The third incident happened 47 km away from zero point. “A driver parked his car and came out to see a pile up. Due to dense fog a speeding truck hit the car from behind. The driver died in the accident, he is yet to be identified,” said an official of the toll operator company.
On the 165-km-long expressway, 15 police stations fall under six districts — Gautam Budh Nagar, Aligarh, Bulandshahr, Mathura, Agra and Hathras — of Uttar Pradesh. There is a need to increase security and police patrolling on the expressway to avert such incidents.
Poorly lit stretch
The expressway has a speed limit of 100 kmph, but there have been several complaints of overspeeding. Commuters said that patrolling needs to be intensified along the e-way and the stretch needs to be adequately lit as 80 per cent of the accidents happen after dark. Apart from overspeeding, tyre bust due to cemented road, poor visibility, absence of fencing at some locations, and movement of stray animals are some of the other reasons of accidents on the expressway.
Another major pile-up occurred on Delhi-Kanpur National Highway in Bulandshahr district on Saturday morning. Dozen of vehicles collided and a truck driver and one SUV driver died in the incident. At least a dozen people were injured. The SUV driver has been identified as Karan (18) and the truck driver as Madan (35).
