A horrific multi-vehicle pile-up occurred in the early hours of Tuesday near Mathura on the Yamuna Expressway claimed multiple lives and left families devastated and frantically searching for their loved ones charred in the accident.
The accident, which claimed 13 lives, was reportedly triggered by dense fog that severely reduced visibility, according to the PTI news agency.
A senior police officer, cited by the news agency, said visibility was “not even one metre” due to dense fog at the 127th milestone on the Agra-to-Noida carriageway of the Yamuna Expressway when the accident occurred.
The pile-up involved eight buses and three smaller vehicles, claiming at least 13 lives in the early hours of Tuesday, the officer added.
Last call before the flames
Among those killed was 75-year-old Jai Prakash Verma, a resident of Rawatpur in Kanpur Nagar, who made a desperate final phone call to his daughter, Manisha, moments after the crash, the Free Press Journal reported.
Verma, identified as a painter by profession, was travelling to Delhi in a Shatabdi AC sleeper bus on Monday night when around 4.25 am on Tuesday, he called his daughter Manisha, telling her that the bus had met with an accident.
{{/usCountry}}Verma, identified as a painter by profession, was travelling to Delhi in a Shatabdi AC sleeper bus on Monday night when around 4.25 am on Tuesday, he called his daughter Manisha, telling her that the bus had met with an accident.
{{/usCountry}}Verma was badly trapped inside. He pleaded with her to save him before the call abruptly disconnected, sending the family into panic, the FPJ report said.
Family’s frantic search
Manisha rushed to Mathura after reportedly learning through social media about a major accident on the expressway. She checked lists of the injured at the district hospital and even approached the district magistrate, but her father’s name did not appear anywhere.
Police later informed the family that several passengers had been burnt alive in the blaze following the collision and that only charred remains were recovered. These remains have been kept at the mortuary for DNA identification, the report added.
Mother saves children
Another tragic account emerged from the same crash. According to PTI, a woman travelling in the sleeper coach managed to push her two children out through a window but could not escape herself.
One of her relatives, Gulzari, spent the day moving between multiple hospitals in and around Mathura, searching for his sister-in-law Parvati. With hope fading by the hour, she continued to look for her among the charred bodies brought to hospitals in black polybags.
Outside a Mathura facility where post-mortem examinations were being conducted, he told reporters that he had spoken to Parvati (42) on the phone after the accident. During the call, she said she had managed to push her children out through a broken window of the bus, PTI report added.