1 dead, 2 injured as truck rams auto, plunges into river

The driver of the truck who had allegedly fallen asleep has been booked for rash driving and he will be arrested once he is discharged from hospital, said police

Thane: One person was killed and two others were injured on Tuesday morning when a speeding truck rammed into an autorickshaw on Gandhari bridge in Kalyan. The driver of the truck who had allegedly fallen asleep has been booked for rash driving and he will be arrested once he is discharged from hospital, said police.

The auto was crushed due to the impact of the accident . (Pramod Tambe/ HT Photo)

According to the police, the accident occurred around 6am when the speeding truck veered into the wrong lane and collided head-on with an autorickshaw coming from the opposite direction. While the auto was crushed due to the impact, the truck broke through the bridge’s railing and plunged into the Ulhas river.

Among the three persons who were present in the auto when the accident occurred, Mangal Wankhede, a domestic worker, was killed on the spot. Her son Nilesh Wankhede, who works with a private firm in Kalyan and was driving the auto, was injured on his legs while Payal Mane, 22, escaped with minor injuries.

Traffic police sub-inspector A Bangar, who was among the first to reach the spot, said he was informed about the accident by a biker.

“When I reached, I saw the truck had fallen into the river and the rickshaw was completely crushed,” he told Hindustan Times. “The woman was dead, while her son was seriously injured. We pulled him out and as soon as he regained consciousness, he asked about his mother.”

The police, fire brigade and public works department (PWD) officials soon reached the spot and rescued the truck driver but could not extricate the vehicle from the river.

“We assessed the situation and realised that the bridge was too weak to support the weight of a crane to lift the truck,” said Namdev Chavhan, a fire brigade officer. “So we decided not to remove the vehicle for now. But we managed to rescue the truck driver safely.”

An officer from the Padgha police station said a case had been registered against the truck driver, who was injured in the accident and is currently under treatment at a hospital.

“The driver is safe and he will be arrested once he recovers,” the officer said.