Van jumps divider in northeast Delhi, rams into bus on other side, 3 dead

Initial enquiry revealed that the driver of the van lost control of the vehicle while trying to avoid hitting a motorcyclist

Three people were killed and eight others were injured after a van collided with a cluster bus run by the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS ) on Thursday afternoon near Loni roundabout in northeast Delhi, police said.

The accident where three people were killed and eight others injured on the flyover near Loni roundabout in northeast Delhi’s Jyoti Nagar on Thursday. (HT Photo)

Police said that the Maruti Suzuki Eeco van, which was carrying 11 people, first jumped the road divider and then crashed into the cluster bus which was moving on the opposite carriageway. Initial enquiry revealed that the driver of the van lost control of the vehicle while trying to avoid hitting a motorcyclist, police officers said.

Deputy commissioner of police (northeast) Joy Tirkey said that the accident took place around 12.30pm, when the van was ferrying passengers from Anand Vihar railway station.

The mangled remains of the Maruti Suzuki Eeco van. (HT Photo)

“The bus was going to Nand Nagri from Bhajanpura while the van was on the opposite carriageway. All the 11 people inside the van were injured. They were rushed to Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) hospital, where three of them were declared brought dead. The reason behind the mishap is being ascertained,” added DCP Tirkey.

Among the deceased were Savita, 55, and Jitendra, 25. The third victim, aged around 30, could not be identified till late evening. Among the injured were Savita’s daughter Reena, 42, Reena’s husband Nand Kishore Chowdhary, 45, and their son Siddhant, 14. They were returning home to their home in northeast Delhi’s Sadatpur Extension after attending the death anniversary rituals of Nand Kishore’s mother in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur. Others wounded in the accident were Nitesh, 25, his sister Neha, 14, and their cousin Sadhna, 9.

The van driver Shiv Kumar, 35, and another passenger Manzoor Ansari, 35, were also injured.

A case under sections 279 and 304A of the Indian Penal Code at the Jyoti Nagar police station against the van driver, DCP Tirkey added.

Meanwhile, Nipun, Nand Kishore Chowdhary’s other son, said that his parents, brother and grandmother were returning to their home in northeast Delhi’s Sadatpur Extension after attending the death anniversary rituals of Nand Kishore’s mother in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur.

The front portion of the bus was also damaged. (HT Photo)

After reaching Anand Vihar railway station, my family took the cab in which passengers travel on a shared fare basis.I was at my workplace when I received a call from Jyoti Nagar police station about the accident. I don’t know how the accident exactly happened. I have lost my grandmother and my parents and brother are seriously injured,” Nipun told mediapersons at GTB hospital.

Neha, who was among those injured, was coming from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh with her brother Nitesh to drop their cousin Sadhna at her Delhi home after the 9-year-old had spent her summer vacations in Bareilly.