17 killed, 15 injured after speeding truck overturns at accident-prone spot near Khandala
The mishap took place on the Pune-Satara highway around 4:30 am (Visuals of the spot, Courtesy: Binu Varghese)
In a tragic incident, at least 17 labourers were killed and 15 others injured when a speeding truck overturned on the Pune-Satara highway in western Maharashtra’s Satara district during the wee hours of Tuesday.
The truck, carrying construction labourers from Bijapur district in Karnataka, was going towards Pune when it met with the accident around 4.30 am on Mumbai-Bengaluru national highway passing through the district, around 250 km from Mumbai, Satara’s Superintendent of Police Sandeep Patil was quoted saying.
The driver of the tempo truck apparently lost control over the wheels at an ‘S’ shaped road at Khambatki ghat near Khandala tunnel. As a result, the vehicle rammed into a barricade, overturned and fell 10 feet off the road.
At least 17 labourers, including several women, died on the spot, while 15 others sustained injuries. Some of the injured are still critical.
On being informed, the Khandala police rushed the spot and took all the victims to Khandala hospital.
The police were trying to ascertain the exact reason of the accident, although prima facie it appears that the accident occurred due to the driver’s lack of concentration as he had been constantly driving and was deprived of sleep.
The bodies were sent for postmortem and the process to identify the deceased was underway.
The Satara-Pune stretch of the national highway witnesses several accidents each year due to sharp bends, prompting the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to propose the construction of a new tunnel at Khambatgi ghat section and convert the road into a six-lane highway.
