Injured weightlifter dies, toll reaches 5 in accident near Delhi-Haryana border

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The death toll in the Sunday morning road accident near Delhi-Haryana border involving six national-level weightlifters climbed to five after one of the two seriously injured sportsmen died at the AIIMS here. Saksham Yadav died in the evening at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) trauma centre here. Yadav, 28, had won a gold medal in the 2017 weightlifting championship for India. Another weightlifter, Rohit, 19, is battling for life.

The accident took place at around 4 a.m. near Alipur village, close to Delhi's Singhu border with Haryana. The victims were on the Delhi-Panipat highway in a Swift Dzire car which police believe was being driven at high speed in drastically reduced visibility due to fog. A Delhi Police official had identified the rest of the dead as Tikamchand, 27, Yogesh, 24, Harish Roy, 20, and Saurabh, 18.

They were taken to Raja Harish Chandra Hospital in Narela where they were declared dead by doctors, the police officer told IANS. Yadav and Rohit were rushed to Max Hospital in Delhi's Shalimar Bagh. Yadav was later shifted to the AIIMS trauma centre in an "extremely critical" condition.

"Saksham's condition is extremely critical as he has severe head injuries. He has internal bleeding in the head," said a senior doctor at AIIMS. The car, according to the official, first hit a divider and then crashed into an electric pole. Due to the impact of the crash, the car's roof was shattered.

"All the deceased and injured are from Haryana and stayed in different places in (north) Delhi's Timarpur area. They were celebrating Rohit's birthday on Saturday and had gone to Karnal (in Haryana)," the officer said. "Prima facie, the car was at a very high speed. The driver could not see the electricity pole. Some liquor bottles were found in the car. So the possibility of drunken driving is there," he added. The accident took place when the weightlifters were returning to Delhi.

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