Polish tourist, cab driver killed in KMP Expressway crash near Palwal

Two dumpers and a cab collided near Yadupur at 4 am; one foreign tourist critical, police file FIR against fleeing truck driver and inform embassy.

A Polish national and his cab driver were killed, while another Polish citizen and a dumper truck driver were critically injured in a horrific accident on the Kundli-Palwal-Manesar (KMP) Expressway in Palwal early Wednesday, police said.

Cab carrying tourists to Agra was crushed between trucks after breakdown on highway; injured shifted to Delhi and Palwal hospitals, probe underway. (HT Photo)

According to police, the deceased were identified as Michal Majzik, 37, from Poland and Mohammad Nafis of Basai Khurd in Agra, Uttar Pradesh. Majzik’s injured girlfriend was Agnieszka Kacynel,35, who was shifted to Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi. The injured dumper driver was Manjesh Kumar, 29, of Etah in Uttar Pradesh, who was undergoing treatment at the Palwal civil hospital, they added.

Police officials said both Polish nationals were on a tourist visa and were travelling to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal in a hired cab from their hotel in Gurugram when the accident occurred near Yadupur village at 4 am.

Sanjay Kadian, public relations officer of Palwal police, detailed the sequence of events. “Kumar’s multi-axle dumper truck loaded with fertiliser broke down on the KMP Expressway after one of its wheels came off. Kumar got down, flashing a torch to oncoming traffic to alert them for diversion,” he said.

At that moment, the cab bearing a UP registration number could not slow down and rear-ended the broken dumper. Both foreign nationals and the driver were initially safe, officers said. “Kumar was hit and flung onto the footpath. At the same time, another dumper truck registered in Yamuna Nagar, Haryana, rammed the cab, which got crushed between the two trucks,” Kadian added.

The second collision killed the cab driver and Majzik while critically injuring Kacynel, police said. The driver of the second dumper fled on foot, they added. Based on a complaint by Kumar, an FIR against the fleeing driver was registered under Sections 106 (death by negligence), 125(a) (endangering life) and 281 (rash driving) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Kadian confirmed that senior officials were alerted about the foreign nationals’ death and injury, and steps were taken to inform the concerned embassy.