Three killed, nine injured after van rams stationary truck on EPE in Gr Noida
The incident took place at 12.30am at the 70km point of EPE, two to three kilometres away from the toll plaza
Three people were killed and nine were severely injured after their Maruti Suzuki Eeco rammed into a stationary truck that was parked on the fast lane of the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) in Greater Noida in the early hours of Thursday, police said. The truck driver has been arrested for causing death by negligence.
The incident took place at 12.30am at the 70km point of EPE, two to three kilometres away from the toll plaza.
The van was taking 12 people who work at a stitching factory in Panipat, Haryana, to their home in Badaun, Uttar Pradesh. Meanwhile, the truck was transporting goods iron material from Ghaziabad to Rajasthan when a hard iron object fell out of the vehicle. The driver halted the vehicle in the fast (overtaking) lane and stepped out to pick up the fallen object. The speeding van rammed into the parked truck with such intensity that it was completely mangled in the impact, said police.
“Highway patrolling vehicles received information from a passerby about the accident, after which we sent a police team to the spot. After a two-hour-long rescue operation using a crane, we managed to rescue the injured and rushed them to nearby hospitals, where two — Akram, 24, and Satish, 24 (all single names) — were declared brought dead while one — Netrapal, 60, succumbed to his injuries while undergoing treatment,” said Kumar.
“Van owner Vagesh, 30, and Netrapal’s wife Rajeshwari, 55, are critically injured and undergoing treatment at a hospital in Greater Noida, while Vivek, 22, Rajnesh, 24, Sadiq, 23, Evran, 24, Devraj, 18, Arvind, 32, and Gajram, 27, are said to be out of danger,” he added.
“A case under Sections 106 (1) (causing death by negligence), 125 (B) (act endangering life or personal safety), and 281 (rash driving) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was registered against the truck driver at Dadri police station on Thursday, and he was taken into custody,” said Amit Pratap Singh, assistant commissioner of police, Greater Noida. The truck driver was identified as Mukesh (single name), a resident of Ghaziabad.
Relatives of the deceased, Satish, said they learned about his death at 9am. “Our calls to Satish to check his whereabouts went unanswered Thursday night. The call was finally answered by a police officer at 9am. He informed us about the accident and sent us a photo of the dead body, after which we identified Satish,” said Satish’s brother Saurabh Kumar.
He added, “Satish got married three years ago and is survived by his wife and one-year-old son. He joined the factory in Panipat two months ago.”