Maharashtra: 4 dead, 4 injured as car hits Samruddhi Expressway divider in Nashik; tyre burst suspected

Representational Image

Four persons were killed and as many seriously injured after a car rammed into the divider on the Nashik stretch of the Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Expressway in the early hours of Monday, a police official told news agency PTI.

The incident took place a little after midnight in Khambale Shivar in the district's Sinanr taluka, he said.

"The Toyota Innova car was on its way to Shirdi from Mumbai. The incident took place between midnight and 1 am. Prima facie, a tyre burst led to the vehicle going out of control and ramming into the divider," the police official told PTI.

The deceased have been identified as Razzaq Ahmed Sheikh (55), Sattar Sheikh Lala Sheikh (65), Sultana Sattar Sheikh (50), who died on the spot, and Faiyaz Dagubhai Sheikh (40), who succumbed to injuries in a nearby hospital, the official informed.

"Four other passengers in the car have received serious injuries. One of them has been shifted to Nashik for advanced treatment. The rest are hospitalised in Shirdi," he said.

A case has been registered and Wavi police is probing the incident further, the official added.

Meanwhile, a total of 39 persons have been killed and 143 injured in accidents on the Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Expressway between December 12 last year and April 30, 2023, a senior police official told PTI.

Addressing the media, the State Highway Police official said "road hypnotism" was one of the causes of these accidents.

Road hypnosis, also called white line fever, is an altered mental state faced by drivers due to "automaticity" or the process of doing things automatically without actively thinking about the steps involved.

"State Highway Police is in the process of tackling the issue. There were 358 accidents on the Samruddhi Corridor between December 12, 2022 to April 30, 2023. These include 24 accidents in which 39 persons were killed, while 143 were injured in 54 accidents," he said.

"Across Maharashtra, there were 15,224 deaths in road crashes in 2022. Of these deaths, 57 per cent were of two-wheeler and three-wheeler riders. Pedestrian deaths accounted for 21 per cent. Some 43 per cent accidents took place on Other District Roads (ODR) across the state," the official added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 520 kilometre Nagpur to Shirdi phase one of the 720-kilometre corridor in December last year.

(With inputs from PTI)