Biker on wrong side dead after ramming into on-duty fire truck

An 18-year-old student died in Sonia Vihar after his motorcycle collided with a fire truck responding to a drowning incident.

An 18-year-old student died on Saturday morning after the motorcycle he was riding crashed into a fire tender coming from the opposite side in Sonia Vihar. While the Class 12 boy was riding on the wrong side of the carriageway and was not wearing a helmet, the fire truck was on its way to rescue a drowning victim near Yamuna in the same area, police said.

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Deputy commissioner of police (northeast) Ashish Mishra said that Sonia Vihar police station was informed about the road accident at 8.15am. After reaching the spot, the motorcyclist was rushed to Jag Pravesh Chandra hospital, where he was declared brought dead. He was identified as Rohit Pal, a resident of Fifth Pushta in Sonia Vihar.

“In an attempt to avoid the collision, the fire truck’s driver steered the vehicle towards the left side, causing it to hit the Pushta wall, resulting in damage to the fire tender. A case of rash driving and causing death by negligence was registered under section 281 and 106 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at the Sonia Vihar police station,” additional DCP (northeast) Sandeep Lamba said.

Meanwhile, the body of the drowning victim, Kuldeep Nainwal, was taken out of the river later in the day with the help of the rescue teams. Nainwal was the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) representative of Karwal Nagar division and had gone to the Chauhan Patti area in Sonia Vihar with his friends at 7am on Saturday when he slipped and drowned in the river. He worked as an electrician.

A Delhi Fire Services (DFS) official said that at 7.20am, the fire control room received a call regarding the drowning of a 50-year-old man in the Yamuna river near Chauhan Patti.

“Two fire tenders were rushed to the drowning spot. One of them met with an accident on the way. A motorcyclist died as his bike crashed into the fire tender that was also damaged,” the DFS official added.

Police said Nainwal was accompanied by his friends Jaidutt Sharma,50, and Ram Bahadur Yadav, 48.

“The victim was rescued and rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was declared dead. No foul play was suspected,” the officer said.

In another road mishap, a 40-year-old truck driver was killed on Saturday morning after his vehicle crashed into another truck that was stationed on the Main Sarita Vihar-Kalindi Kunj Road in south Delhi, police said. The deceased was identified as Hanif Ali from Auraiya in Uttar Pradesh. The driver of the offending truck fled and he could not be arrested till late evening, the police said.