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'Papa, crash ho gaya': Tourist heard on call after Thar rams i20 in Goa | Watch
A white i20 hatchback car was seen in a crushed state, with the front of the Thar SUV pointed towards it.
A rented Thar SUV rammed an i20 car in north Goa, killing a resident of Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal and injuring a woman who was accompanying him. The Thar involved in the crash was reportedly occupied by some young tourists, who were seen panicking in visuals that surfaced after the accident.
“Papa chauraha tha, main ek side se aa raha tha…and we just crashed,” a young tourist was heard saying on a call, presumably to his father. The video also showed him getting into the driving seat of the Thar to move it, but a passerby stopped him from doing so.
A white i20 hatchback car was seen in a crushed state, with the front of the Thar SUV pointed towards it. Some young tourists seated at the back of the Thar were seen talking to each other.
Speeding Thar crashes i20, man dies
The victim of the crash was identified as Bhagat Sharma, 65, was a resident of Bhopal who was holidaying in Goa.
The Thar SUV was allegedly speeding when it hit Sharma's i20, which also had another woman and a five-year-old child inside, both of whom survived the crash.
The emergency response ambulance service allegedly took over an hour to arrive and according to eyewitnesses, Sharma was initially conscious after the accident, despite serious injuries.
Who was driving the Thar?
While there is no official confirmation on who was behind the wheels of the Thar before the crash, an eyewitness said that a woman was driving it and the vehicle was speeding.
However, immediately after the crash, the woman shifted and sat in the passenger seat, in an alleged attempt to escape accountability, Myron Fernandes, a local resident, said. “The male member of the group went and sat in the driver’s seat following the crash,” he said.
“The police have registered a case of rash and negligent driving against the driver of the rented jeep. The vehicle has been seized, and further investigation is underway to ascertain the exact sequence of events leading to the collision,” a police officer, who declined to be named, said, as quoted in an earlier HT report.
Meanwhile, according to the local resident, Sharma had suffered injuries to the head and the skull after the crash and was taken to a hospital in a private ambulance about an hour after the crash.
Fifteen minutes later, the government ambulance arrived, the resident further added.
(With inputs from Gerard de Souza)
