Interior designer loses leg as trailer carrying machinery topples on EEH

A 44-year-old interior designer lost his leg after a trailer overturned on the Eastern Express Highway in Mumbai. The driver has been arrested.

MUMBAI: A 44-year-old interior designer lost his leg after a trailer carrying a 60-tonne earth-piling machine toppled on the Pant Nagar bridge slope near Vikhroli East on the Eastern Express Highway on Saturday.

Interior designer loses leg as trailer carrying machinery topples on EEH

The accident occurred around 4 am when the trailer driver lost control while navigating the slope, causing the heavy vehicle to overturn. The interior designer, identified as Vipul Panchal, a resident of Adarsh Nagar, Kandivali West, was travelling on a scooter and became trapped under the toppled trailer. Panchal was returning home after completing work in Navi Mumbai.

Eyewitnesses said the trailer was heading towards Mumbai, while Panchal was travelling in the opposite direction towards Kandivali. The impact of the crash crushed Panchal’s left leg under the weight of the machine.

“He was rushed to Sion Hospital and later transferred to a private facility for further treatment. Panchal is currently in stable condition but has lost his left leg,” said a police officer.

The Vikhroli police have arrested the trailer driver, Laltaprasad Zuri Yadav, 59, a resident of Surya Nagar, Vikhroli. Yadav has been booked under sections 281 (rash or negligent driving) and 125 (endangering personal safety or life through negligence) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, along with section 184 (dangerous driving) of the Motor Vehicles Act.

A regional transport office team has been called in to inspect the trailer and submit a report. The driver was served a notice under section 35(3) of the Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, requiring his appearance during the investigation.

Police are probing whether the trailer’s weight exceeded permissible limits or if mechanical failure contributed to the accident.