7, including 3 city residents killed as two vehicles collide on Samruddhi E-way
A multi-utility vehicle (MUV) going from Nagpur to Mumbai and a car heading in the opposite direction collided head-on, resulting in the death of six persons on the spot
NAGPUR: Seven persons, including three residents of Malad East were killed after two vehicles collided on the Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway, also known as Samruddhi Expressway, in Jalna district. The incident, occurred around 11.30pm on Friday near Kadwanchi village, also left three others with serious injuries.
“A multi-utility vehicle (MUV) going from Nagpur to Mumbai and a car heading in the opposite direction collided head-on, resulting in the death of six persons on the spot. One more person succumbed to injuries at a hospital later,” a Jalna police official said.
The impact of the collision was so severe that the MUV broke through the crash barrier and fell off on the left side of the road. Local villagers and police responded swiftly to rescue those trapped in the wreckage.
The police patrol team that reached the accident spot reported that the speeding Swift Dzire came in the wrong direction, leading to the fatal crash. There were ten occupants in both vehicles.
The three victims from Pathan Wadi in Malad East are identified as Faiyaz Mansuri, his brother Faizal Shakeel Mansuri and their close relative Althamesh Mansuri. Police sources said that Faiyaz was in the air-conditioning business and the others assisted him.
All six people were travelling in the MUV along with the deceased. The others -- Shakeel Mansuri, Altaf Mansuri and driver Rajesh Kumar are seriously injured and have been admitted to Ghati Hospital in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar (formerly Aurangabad). Shakeel Mansuri is the father of the deceased siblings - Faizal and Faiyaz.
Their relatives in Mumbai said that the victims and the injured had gone to Nagpur for an air-conditioning contract and were returning to the city when this accident took place.
The other victims of the accident are from Buldhana district. Those included Laxman Misal, Sandip Budhwant, Vilas Kayande and an unidentified person who was travelling with them in the Swift Dzire.
It is believed that the accident occurred when the car entered the highway from the wrong side after refuelling and collided with the MUV. The Swift Dzire was headed towards Shirdi. All the injured were shifted to the government-run district hospital in Jalna, where three persons were reported to be in critical condition. Dr Umesh Jadhav, a medical officer at the Government District Hospital in Jalna, informed that six bodies were brought to the hospital for post-mortem.
“Three injured persons are being treated here, while one critically injured person who was shifted to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district died later,” he added.
Friday night’s mishap is not the first accident on Samruddhi Expressway. Several major accidents have occurred on the highway.
Twenty-five people, including three children, died and eight others were injured after a private sleeper coach bus they were travelling in caught fire on the Nagpur-Mumbai Expressway on July 1 last year near Buldhana.
Around 160 people have been killed on the expressway in accidents since its first phase from Nagpur to Shirdi was inaugurated in December 2022 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Samruddhi Expressway, a six-lane highway, spanning 701km, connects Mumbai and Nagpur. The first phase was inaugurated on December 11, 2022, by Prime Minister Modi in Nagpur, connecting Nagpur to the temple town of Shirdi in Ahmednagar district, covering a distance of 520 km.