Two children among three dead after car rams truck on e-way

A CCTV footage surfaced on social media, ostensibly showing the car hit the stationary dumper from behind before crashing into the mini truck on its side

Two children aged 12 and 13 and a 24-year-old man were killed after their car rammed a stationary truck on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway (DME) near Crossings Republik Township in Ghaziabad on Saturday, police officers aware of the matter said.

There were 12 people on board including 11 children who were going to a school entrance exam in Jamia Nagar in Delhi when the accident occurred. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

According to police, there were 12 people on board including 11 children who were going to a school entrance exam in Jamia Nagar in Delhi when the accident occurred.

Police identified the deceased students as Unesh Khan, 12 and Mohammed Azam, 13 and 24-year-old man as Anas Ali. Ali was driving the Ertiga car to the exam centre when the accident occurred around 6.30am on the lane from Ghaziabad to Delhi. Police said two of the children were grievously injured and are undergoing treatment.

“The children, all aged between 10 and 13, were admitted to four different hospitals. The driver and one child succumbed after they were rushed to a hospital (by police and highway staff) while the second child succumbed at the hospital later in the afternoon,” said assistant commissioner of police (ACP) (Wave city) Poonam Mishra.

According to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials, the dumper truck proceeding to Delhi on the expressway had developed a technical snag near Crossings Republik at 6.23am after which its driver turned on the hazard lights and parked the vehicle on the side. “The car in question was 30 seconds behind the dumper and was speeding at 90km/hour, alongside a mini truck which was also speeding. The commercial truck gave way to the Ertiga which then rammed the stationary dumper from behind. As a result of the impact, the car then hit the mini truck on its side,” said an NHAI official, requesting anonymity.

Police said that based on a complaint given by Mohammad Usman, the teacher of a coaching centre, they registered an FIR under sections 279 (rash and negligent driving), 338 (causing grievous hurt by rash and negligent acts) and 304A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the driver of the dumper at Crossings Republik police station. “Usman is a coaching centre teacher and he was coming in another car behind the Ertiga,” said the SHO (Crossings Republik) Ravi Kumar Baliyan.

“The driver of the dumper fled the spot but we will nab him soon. We have received a complaint by the family of the injured,” the ACP added.

A CCTV footage of the incident taken from NHAI also surfaced on social media which ostensibly shows the car hitting the stationary dumper from behind before crashing into the mini truck on its side.

“Our highway patrol vehicle was on adjacent NH9. The staff rushed to the spot along with an ambulance that was parked on NH9,” the NHAI official added.

Ghaziabad traffic police officers it is difficult to deploy personnel to man the high-speed lanes of DME. “Our personnel are on duty on NH9 and they cannot be deployed in the high-speed lanes of DME. It is manned by NHAI’s highway patrol. The stationary dumper has a Haryana registration number while the mini truck is registered in Ghaziabad,” said additional DCP (traffic) Virendra Singh.

In the evening, ACP Mishra said that the police had seized the dumper and the mini truck.

“My son and two more children from my family have suffered injuries. They are in the hospital. The driver of the Ertiga was my brother-in-law and he was ferrying children to Jamia Nagar as they had an entrance test in school for admission to Class 6. The car had left for the school around 5am from Amroha. Thereafter, we received the information from police that it has met with an accident,” said Mohammad Fahimuddin, father of Arish, a 12-year-old injured boy.

Indian Penal Code sections against the driver of the dumper,” the ACP added.