Eighteen labourers were killed and several others injured on Tuesday morning when a truck carrying more than 35 workers, including several women, overturned on the Pune-Bengaluru Highway in Satara district of Maharashtra.
The workers, said to hail from Vijayapura district of Karnataka, were coming for work in Shirwal MIDC in Pune district when the accident occurred at Satara’s Khandala tehsil.
There were at least three families in the group, while several of them were related, said the authorities.
The deceased have been identified as: Madhavi Rathod (45); Shankar Chavan (55); Santosh Naik (32); Mangalabai Naik (42); Krushna Pawar (60); Kiran Rathod (15); Devabai Rathod (27); Priyanka Rathod (18); Vitthal Rathod (40) and his wife Kallubai (35); Devanand Rathod (35); Sangeeta Rathod (26); a child Tanveer Rathod (aged 18 months); Shrikant Rathod (38) and his brother Sinoo (30); Arjun Chavan (30); Mehboob Atar (55) and his son Majid (25).
“The accident occurred around 5.30 a.m. At least 35 labourers were cramped up in the truck when it overturned in an accident-prone bend after crossing the Khambatki Ghat. 18 among the group, including four women and a child, were killed on the spot while 15 more seriously injured,” said a police officer.
The driver of the truck was among the deceased.
Dangerous curve
According to authorities, the driver lost control of the vehicle after negotiating the Khambatki Ghat and reaching a dangerous bend at the tail-end of the mountain pass.
Locals said several accidents had occurred at the ‘S-corner’ at the end of the pass as drivers frequently fail to gauge it properly.
The impact was so severe that a part of the metal barrier, which the truck rammed was flung across the road.
Some men, said to be part of the group, who were following the the truck on two-wheelers, informed the Satara Rural police.
The injured were taken o the Rural Hospital in Khandala.
A rise in the death toll is feared owing to the intensity of the crash, police said.
