Mumbai: Four separate road accidents claimed four lives and injured four people in Navi Mumbai on Monday.
The first mishap occurred around 4 a.m., when a pickup jeep rammed into a stalled trailer near Palaspa Phata, Panvel. The jeep was carrying farmers from Belavali, Sangade and Borle villages to Panvel market, where they sold vegetables. Two farmers, identified as Gotiram Pandurang Patil (65) from Sangade village and Changu Dharma Pawar (66) from Belavali village died, while three others were injured. Police said a case has been registered against the unidentified trailer driver with Panvel City police, who fled the spot after the accident.
Around the same time in Sanpada, a tanker carrying liquid oxygen toppled under the flyover on the Sion-Panvel highway, causing a traffic jam that lasted around 20 minutes. The tanker was removed from the spot only by 9 a.m., and traffic was diverted. DCP (Traffic) Nitin Pawar said, “As it was early morning, vehicular traffic was less. Chemical experts and the fire brigade transferred the liquid oxygen to another tanker, and the damaged tanker was removed from the spot.” Tanker driver Popat Dalvi (53), who was injured, was headed to Tata Memorial Hospital. He has been booked under the Motor Vehicles Act.
Around 6 a.m., an autorickshaw driver was knocked down in Ghansoli by an NMMT bus that was travelling on the wrong side. The victim was identified as Balaji Ingle (46), a resident of Kaul Ali. Ingle had parked his autorickshaw across the road, and was crossing the road to get to it when a bus from the NMMT depot in Sector 16 hit him. He was crushed under the wheels and dragged for a few metres.
Autorickshaw driver Sagar Patil, who was Ingle’s friend, said, “Hearing the cries, we all rushed to the spot and removed him from under the bus. We took him to hospital, but he had died on the spot. We blocked the depot’s buses and demanded that NMMT extend support to his family as he was the sole breadwinner. Later, the police lathi-charged us, forcing us to disperse.” Later, police arrested the driver of the bus, identified as Navnath Shelar (42), a resident of Baithi chawl in Sector 8, Koparkhairane for rash driving and negligence.
In the fourth incident that occured around noon, an 18-year-old junior college student based in Kharghar was knocked down and killed by a truck near Uran Phata, Nerul. The victim, identified as Ajay Uddhav Patil (18), a resident of Gayatri Apartment, Sector 18, Kharghar was returning on his bike after meeting his sister, who lives in Bhandup.
PSI Sadanand Kamble, Nerul police station, said, “He was wearing a helmet. How the accident happened is not known. We are investigating. The incident happened while he was climbing the flyover near Uran Phata.” The victim is survived by his parents and three sisters. Truck driver Pratap Alange (45), a resident of Osmanabad who works at the APMC in Vashi, has been arrested.
