Driver burnt alive in truck after collision on KMP e-way
Traffic on the carriageway towards Manesar was diverted until the morning while firefighters and police teams tried to control the fire.
A 37-year-old truck driver was charred to death in the early hours of Wednesday, following a collision between two trucks that led to a fire, at Asodha in Bahadurgarh on the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway, the police said.
Traffic on the carriageway towards Manesar was diverted until the morning while firefighters and police teams tried to control the fire. The collision took place around 36 kilometres from Gurugram.
One of the trucks, ferrying basmati rice from Karnal, was heading towards Garhi Hasaru in Manesar while the other, laden with sodium sand, was going towards Jaipur.
The deceased was identified as Mohammad Izzrul a native of Darbhanga in Bihar. His body was sent to the Civil Hospital in Bahadurgarh.
The police said that commuters informed the control room of the incident around 1am, following which they had sent a police team and alerted the fire department. Two fire tenders and 10 firefighters were rushed to the spot, and the fire was controlled in two hours.
However, fumes continued to emerge from the truck till the morning, said police, adding that fire tenders were recalled to the spot in the afternoon.
A police team of six personnel was deployed to control traffic. Immediately after the incident, trucks were diverted to the other carriageway, on the wrong side, which caused a jam for several hours.
The stretch was cleared by 7am the, police said.
According to the police, the incident took place around 12.45am when the trucks were moving towards Gurugram to deliver the consignment and their containers brushed while one of them was overtaking.
“Some stretches are in bad shape and potholes are a leading cause of truck accidents on KMP. Both the trucks were speeding and suddenly, the truck carrying chemicals applied brakes due to the pothole and the other truck rammed it, due to which the engine caught fire and the driver was charred to death,” said Babulal Datick, inspector, Asodha police station.
The driver and cleaner of the other truck fled the spot fearing police action. “They both are suspected to be injured as we found blood stains in their cabin. We are conducting an investigation and have asked the teams to check if any injured person is admitted to any nearby hospitals,” said Datick.
Rajesh Mishra, manager of Gateway Rail, for whom Izzrul worked, said they received the information late night from a commuter. “Our mobile phone numbers are written on the rear of our trucks. We had sent a team immediately and the body was taken to Bahadurgarh Civil Hospital. We had informed the family members who live in Noida and they reached within three hours,” he said.
The body was handed over to the family after an autopsy, the police said.
A case was registered against the unidentified truck driver under sections 279 (rash driving) and 304-A (death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code(IPC) at Asodha police station in Bahadurgarh.
