Smog may have been a factor in sealink crash: Police

A day after the first fatal accident on the Bandra-Worli sealink claimed two lives, police said morning smog hanging over the bridge may have added to the private car’s high speed leading to the crash.

A day after the first fatal accident on the Bandra-Worli sealink claimed two lives, police said morning smog hanging over the bridge may have added to the private car’s high speed leading to the crash.

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Police are yet to arrest Brijesh Singh (40), the Skoda driver who lost control of the car, for causing death due to negligence as he is in critical condition at Lilavati Hospital, Bandra. Rajkumar Sharma (36), the taxi driver who was injured in the accident, has been discharged from Bhabha Hospital, Bandra.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone IX), K.M.M. Prasanna, said although the morning smog over the sealink may have decreased visibility, the driver’s rapid acceleration on entering the sealink was the primary cause of the accident. “There is not much to investigate here. Traffic officials must make sure commuters stick to the sealink’s speed limit,” Prasanna added.

Singh was driving Walkeshwar resident Ojas Mehta (14) to Dhirubhai Ambani International School at Bandra (E). Taxi driver Sharma was ferrying a passenger, Sitaram Mathur (32). Mehta and Mathur died of their injuries.

“We will position speed guns on the sealink. I have seen only one clip captured by the closed-circuit (CCTV) camera,” said S Sabnis, chief engineer, Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation, which manages the sealink. There are six CCTV cameras along the 5.6-km length of the bridge.

Mehta’s school, where he was a class 9 student, cancelled all classes on Wednesday and postponed its ongoing exams to next week. The school is reportedly planning a condolence meet on Thursday. His schoolmates remember Mehta as a happy-go-lucky, mischievous boy. While one student said he was “friendly and popular,” another said: “He was also quite good at football.”