Truck driver who ran over 5 on expressway arrested

The driver was transporting watermelons from Temburnhi in Solapur to Borivli when his truck crashed into the other vehicle.

A day after five people were killed in a Mumbai-Pune Expressway accident near Panvel, the truck driver who rammed into the van, was arrested after he fled the scene with the cleaner.

5 people died after a truck crashed into them on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway (HT Photo)

A senior police inspector of Khandeshwar police station, Yogesh More, said, “We traced and arrested the driver, Nagesh Madhukar Danke, 41. He hails from the village of Parite in Madha taluka of Solapur district. He was arrested late Monday night.”

Danke was transporting watermelons from Temburnhi in Solapur to Borivli when his truck crashed into the other vehicle.

More said, “Prima facie, it seems like the driver had dozed off.”

Eight friends, all residents of Mankhurd, were travelling in the van when it broke down.

They were pushing the van to the nearest garage when the truck carrying watermelons crashed into them.

Two of them died on the spot and three others succumbed to their injuries later.

One of the injured, Ramchandra Yadav is still critical.

More said, “He was admitted to a private hospital in Kamothe. There has been no improvement in his condition.”