Three persons, two of them from a family, were killed and 10 others injured after the minibus they were travelling in rammed a water tanker from behind on NH-24 (Delhi-Meerut Expressway) near East Vinod Nagar late Saturday.
Police said the group was headed to Uttarakhand’s Nainital on a vacation and the minibus, Tempo Traveller, was allegedly speeding. The tanker driver fled the spot immediately after the accident but was arrested on Saturday afternoon and booked for rash driving and causing death by negligence, the police said.
The three dead persons were identified as Mukesh Jain (39), his nephew Monu Jain (13), and driver Nishan Singh (34).
The injured persons are family members of Mukesh. His wife Poonam Jain (36) is critical and undergoing treatment in a private hospital in Patparganj. The other injured persons were admitted to three different hospital in east Delhi and Kaushambi, Ghaziabad. They were identified as Poonam’s children — Lovesh (14) and Khushbu (22) — her mother Premwati Jain (63), brother Sudarshan Jain (44), his wife Kumud Jain (38), and their children – Daya (15) and Arpit (10) — Sudarshan’s niece Priyanka, 21 and cousin Anurag.
The accident, which took place around midnight, caused a heavy jam on the carriageway towards Ghaziabad. Hundreds of motorists were stuck in a 2km long snarl, which continued till 2am.
{{/usCountry}}The accident, which took place around midnight, caused a heavy jam on the carriageway towards Ghaziabad. Hundreds of motorists were stuck in a 2km long snarl, which continued till 2am.
{{/usCountry}}Police said the Tempo driver Nishan lived in west Delhi’s Tilak Nagar. He was employed by a private transport company and the minibus belonged to the company. The Jains hired it to go on a three-day vacation to Nainital.
Around 10.30pm, Nishan picked up 12 members of the Jain family from their Uttam Nagar home and left for Nainital. The Tempo had reached the East Vinod Nagar underpass when the mishap took place. The impact of the crash was such that the front right portion of the vehicle was mangled. Nishan and at least four passengers were trapped inside. The fire department’s rescue team had to cut open the vehicle to extract the trapped occupants, the police said.
“Eyewitnesses told police the rear door of the Tempo was thrown open in the crash and some occupants fell out. But no injured person was found lying behind the vehicle when police arrived. Some of the injured persons had already been moved to a nearby hospital. Mukesh Jain, Monu, and the Tempo driver Nishan were declared brought dead,” a police officer said.
DCP (east) Jasmeet Singh said the tanker driver told police the truck was moving slowly because of a faulty clutch and the minibus crashed into it. The family members, however, denied the claim.
“The cause of the accident will be ascertained after due investigation,” Singh said.