3 pedestrians crushed to death by truck on Pune-Bangalore Highway
The brakes of the truck carrying industrial machinery failed, causing the truck to hurtle in reverse for about one kilometre killing pedestrians and further ramming into five cars
PUNE Three pedestrians were killed on Tuesday after a truck hit them and further rammed into other vehicles on the Pune-Bangalore Highway at Narhe area in Pune. The incident took place near the Navale Bridge chowk, which is an accident-prone stretch of the highway.
According to officials, the brakes of the truck carrying industrial machinery failed, causing the truck to hurtle in reverse for about one kilometre, due to a steep slope, killing the pedestrians. The speeding truck also hit five other vehicles; however, no injuries were reported. After the incident, the truck driver and his aide fled the spot and police have lodged an FIR against unknown persons in the case.
The deceased have been identified as Nitin Chandrakant Dhavale (29), a resident of Shivne; Hemant Yashwant Talale (27) and Chetan Ramesh Solanki (31) both residents of Narhe area. All three of them were standing on the highway to catch their company bus in the morning to go towards Shirval and Satara.
As per the information shared by the Sinhgad road police, the heavy vehicle truck (MH 14 GU 9521) carrying industrial material going towards Satara suffered a breakdown on the bypass highway near Swaminarayan Temple at around 5 am. The National Highway Authority of India’s (NHAI) highway rescue team members barricaded the truck as it was halted on the highway and provided help. The cleaner of the truck later brought fuel from a nearby petrol pump and at around 9 am the driver tried to restart the vehicle. But as the truck started, its breaks did not work and suddenly the truck started moving in reverse on the highway.
“The truck was speeding in reverse, it first hit two persons who were waiting for their company bus near Bhumkar chowk. Then the truck hit another person near the service road exit towards Narhe. The hit was intense, and all three persons died on the spot. The truck also hit five other vehicles,” said assistant police inspector (API) Prashant Kanse of Sinhgad road police station.
The truck driver and his aide fled the accident spot, leaving the truck, which inturn caused traffic jam. Local residents and police officials along with NHAI workers rushed to the spot. The mortal remains of the three persons were taken to Sassoon General Hospital. The police took statements from the people who were travelling in the cars which the truck hit. All five vehicles were towed from the spot and traffic was cleared, said officials.
Gautam Harshwardhan an IT professional from Delhi who was heading towards Mahabaleshwar along with his friend said, “We had come to Mumbai and were on our way to Mahabaleshwar when the accident took place. The speeding truck first hit our car, but the car took the entire load on itself and our air bags came out on time, we are lucky to have survived.”
Vitthal Chavan, a car owner whose vehicle was damaged in the accident said, “Ours is a tourist vehicle and a newly married couple were travelling with their family. They all escaped unhurt.”
Nilesh Bhosale, a nearby resident and an eyewitness said, “I was out for my morning walk when I saw a speeding truck coming in reverse. Everything happened in about 15 seconds. The victims did not get a chance to move out of the way.”
Assistant commissioner of police Sunil Pawar said, “The search for the driver and his aide is underway and we have filed an FIR. It is unfortunate that this accident has happened. Statements of the people who were on the spot and car owners have been taken and further investigation is going on.”
