E-Paper
5 wrestlers among 6 killed in Sangli road accident
The mishap occurred on the Kadegaon-Sangli road, when the wrestlers were returning from Aundh village after participating in the wrestling competition there.
Pune Five wrestlers were among six killed when their SUV hit a tractor near Vangi village in Sangli district in western Maharashtra early on Saturday, police said.
Five others were injured in the accident, they said.
The mishap occurred on the Kadegaon-Sangli road, when the wrestlers were returning from Aundh village after participating in the wrestling competition there, a senior police officer said.
They were heading to Kundal in Sangli when their vehicle hit a tractor coming from the opposite direction.
Vijay Patil (Ramapur), Shubham Gharge (Soholi, Sangli), Saurabh Mane (Malkhed, Karad), Akash Desai (Kale, Satara) and Avinash Gaikwad (Shirala, Sangli) and the SUV driver Ranjeet Dhanawade were killed in the accident.
The wrestlers belonged to the institute, Kranti Kushti Sankul in Sangli. “It is very sad and shocking, for us,” said Sharad Lad, the institution’s secretary.
Their coach Vijay Mohite was also in the car, but he got off at his village a few minutes before the accident, said local wrestler Uttamrao Patil.
The injured are being treated at a state-run hospital in Miraj, the officer said.
A case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Motor Vehicles Act has been registered at the Chinchni-Vangi police station and efforts were on to nab the tractor driver who fled the spot, the police officer said.
