Driver burnt to death after truck jumps divider, rams into cab

A 54-year-old aggregator cab driver was burnt to death after a speeding cement concrete mixer truck jumped a road divider and collided with his vehicle head-on on the Western Express Highway in the early hours of Thursday.

MUMBAI: A 54-year-old aggregator cab driver was burnt to death after a speeding cement concrete mixer truck jumped a road divider and collided with his vehicle head-on on the Western Express Highway in the early hours of Thursday.

Mumbai, India. Jan 16, 2025: A cab driver burned alive after a cab collided with a cement mixer on a National Park flyover in Borivali. Mumbai, Jan 16, 2025. (Photo by Raju Shinde/HT Photo) (Hindustan Times)

The cab driver, Maqsood Alam Shaik, suffered more than 70 percent burns after the cab caught fire following the collision. The driver could not escape after the impact as his leg was stuck between the clutch and brake of the damaged cab.

The accident took place on the highway near the Sanjay Gandhi National Park around 1.50am, when Shaikh was returning to his house in Vakola in Santacruz East after dropping a passenger at Dahisar from the airport.

According to the Kasturba Marg Police, the cement mixer, driven by accused Dinesh Kumar Bhartiya, 45, was travelling towards Naigaon from Bandra. When it descended from the national park flyover, Bhartiya lost control over the vehicle and jumped the divider, hitting the cab travelling on the south-bound carriageway. Police said they are investigating whether Bhartiya lost control due to a tyre burst or due to high speed.

Due to the impact of the collision, the cab’s front part was crushed by the mixer truck and both the vehicles burst into flames.

Police said Shaikh apparently could not move out of the vehicle as his legs were stuck between the clutch and brakes and was charred to death. Bhartiya, who was able to get out of the vehicle, fled from the spot fearing public outrage.

Eyewitnesses and other cab drivers saw the vehicles in flames and tried to rescue the cab driver but could not. They made calls to the aggregator company and helped the police identify Shaikh and reach his family. He leaves behind a wife and a daughter.

“With the help of the owner of the mixer truck, we traced the driver and arrested him,” said a police officer from Kasturba Marg Police station. “He was sent for medical examination, and it was confirmed that he was not drunk at the time of the accident.”

Bhartiya was produced in court which remanded him in police custody for two days.