A driver sustained injuries after his car was crushed between a truck and a bus and seven other people were injured after a truck rammed a total of eight vehicles on the Ring Road near north Delhi’s Pitampura on Saturday afternoon, the police said.
The truck driver who fled immediately after the accident has been identified as Pushpender, a resident of Kannauj in U.P. His helper Vinay Kumar Singh has been detained.
DCP (north-west) Aslam Khan said the driver, identified as Puneet Jain, miraculously escaped any fatal injury. Puneet and other victims have been hospitalised. They are all expected to survive, the police said.
The police attributed the involvement of so many vehicles in the accident to the truck’s brake failure. “These vehicles were travelling down the slope because of which the momentum was high and damage was major,” said Ms. Khan.
The police suspect there could be more people with minor injuries.
Ms. Khan said the truck was carrying metal sheets, loaded from outer Delhi’s Mundka, and was being driven to Kanpur. The accident happened around 3 p.m. while the truck was being driven down the slope on the carriageway opposite Haiderpur metro station.
The police said that after the truck’s brakes failed, it rolled down the slope for over 100 metres. “It hit a bus immediately after the brake failure,” said Ms. Khan.A search for the absconding driver is on.
