Three people, including two minors, were injured after a dumper truck lost control and rammed into a hutment in Mankhurd in the early hours of Saturday.
According to the Mankhurd police, the incident occurred in Jai Hind Nagar on the Sion–Vashi highway at around 3:00 a.m. “The dumper was travelling on the south-bound stretch of the highway and lost control suddenly, after which it careened to the left. It went off the highway and down an adjacent slope, coming to a stop after ramming into a hutment in a slum at the end of the slope,” said an officer with the Mankhurd police.
The sound of the crash woke up residents, who rushed to help. The police were informed and a team was sent to the spot along with ambulances. The driver was pulled out of the mangled remains of the vehicle, while the three occupants of the house, Raviprakash Pathare and his two daughters, were rescued from the wreck of the hutment. The driver and Mr. Pathare’s daughters, Tarana (10) and Roxy, who is nine months old, were taken to Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar, where they are under treatment.
Meanwhile, the sight of a dumper halfway into a wrecked hut gave rise to rumours among motorists who took the highway later in the morning. A photograph of the dumper went viral on social media, along with a message that the dumper had fallen off a flyover and onto a hutment, leading to fatalities.
The driver of the dumper, Sanjay Paswan (39), has been booked for causing injury and endangering life due to rash and negligent driving under the Indian Penal Code and the Motor Vehicles Act. The Mankhurd police will be arresting him as soon as he is discharged from the hospital.
Later, traffic on the highway was affected for several hours while the police removed the mangled dumper.
