In a brutal road accident that brought to light civilian apathy, no one came to help a man and his young son for a long time after his wife and daughter were crushed to death by a speeding truck in the Ghat Ki Guni tunnel here on Sunday. They were all riding a motorbike.
On Monday morning, residents of Pink City and elsewhere woke to heart-rending images of the young man crying out for help, with his weeping son at his side and wife and daughter lying in a pool of blood next to him, as vehicles passed on by.
Kanhaiyalal, his wife Guddi (26), five-year-old Tanish and 6-month-old Arushi were on their way to Luniyawas village, the woman’s maternal home, for a religious function when the tragedy occurred.
As the four of them, Arushi in her mother’s lap on pillion and Tanish on the fuel tank, entered the tunnel from Jawahar Nagar side, they had no idea it was to be their last family outing together.
Three hundred metres into the tunnel, Kanhaiylal’s bike was hit by the truck from behind as he tried to overtake another truck ahead of him. While he and the boy fell on the footpath, Guddi and Arushi fell to the other side, and came under the wheels of the overtaking truck.
Passersby came to his aid only when, after having struggled in vain to seek help, Kanhaiyalal fainted. Since the tunnel has no mobile signal reception, the distraught man could not call anyone for help.
Bike violated rules
Two-wheelers are not allowed inside the tunnel. When asked about regulation, Deputy Commissioner of Traffic Lata Manoj Kumar said, “We have managed to trace the truck that hit them and will catch the driver soon.” The traffic police have fined over 3,000 violations in the tunnel, most of them involving entry of two-wheelers. “We have contributed to [the regulation of] such incidents since the first day. There is team of traffic policemen stationed in the tunnel, along with an interceptor vehicle, which is there 24 hours. But sometimes people manage to sneak in,” said Ms. Kumar.
