Truck crushes car, rams eight vehicles in Delhi’s Pitampura

Police said the truck was heavily loaded with metal sheets collected from outer Delhi’s Mundka and were to be driven to Kanpur.

A 26-year-old motorist had a miraculous escape after his Baleno car was sandwiched between a truck and a bus in an accident on Ring Road near north Delhi’s Pitampura on Saturday afternoon.

After the brake failure, the truck rolled down the slope for over 100 metres, hitting the vehicles on its way. (HT Photo)

After the truck’s brakes failed, it collided with a Haryana roadways bus, and the car was stuck between them.

Seven other people were injured in the accident after the truck crashed into eight more vehicles, police said.

Aslam Khan, deputy commissioner of police (north-west), said Puneet Jain miraculously escaped any life-threatening injuries. Jain remained hospitalised with five other people. Two others were released.

Quoting the initial probe, the officer attributed the pile-up to the truck’s brake failure. “These vehicles were moving down the slope because of which the momentum was high,” said the DCP.

Since the accident involved a Haryana Roadways bus, police said there could be more people with minor injuries, but only eight needed to be hospitalised.

The truck driver, who escaped, has been identified as Pushpender, a resident of Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh. His helper, Vinay Kumar Singh, has been detained.

The DCP said the truck was heavily loaded with metal sheets collected from outer Delhi’s Mundka and were to be driven to Kanpur.

The accident happened around 3 pm while the truck was moving down the slope on the carriageway opposite Haiderpur metro station near north Delhi’s Pitampura.

Police said after apparently the brake failure, the truck rolled down the slope for over 100 metres, hitting the vehicles on its way.

“Since the truck hit a bus, the two vehicles together caused a lot of damage,” said the DCP.

A tempo, scooters and motorcycles were damaged, the officer said.

The accidents resulted in a long traffic jam and cranes were used to remove the damaged vehicles.

Police said they registered a case of rash and negligent driving.