Bhiwandi: Eight members of a family from Chalisgaon in Jalgaon district were injured, four of them seriously, after the Tempo Traveller they were travelling in rammed into a parked truck on Mumbai-Nashik Highway near Sonale village in Bhiwandi taluka on Thursday early morning.
According to Bhiwandi Taluka police, the Sheikh family had travelled to Mumbai airport to drop two relatives, who were leaving for Umrah pilgrimage. The accident occurred while they were returning to Chalisgaon.
Tausif, the driver of the Tempo Traveller, told
TOI that heavy rainfall had drastically reduced visibility on the highway. He said two vehicles were moving ahead of him, and while attempting to overtake them from the left, he mistook a truck parked on the roadside for a moving vehicle. Before he could react, the Tempo Traveller crashed into the rear of the truck.
Following the accident, local residents rushed to the spot and shifted all the injured to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Bhiwandi. Four passengers who sustained minor injuries were treated and discharged, while the four seriously injured were given primary treatment before being taken by their relatives to Jalgaon for further medical care.
The injured alleged that the truck driver had parked the vehicle on the roadside without switching on the hazard indicators, and claimed that the absence of warning lights, coupled with poor visibility due to heavy rain, led to the accident.
Senior police inspector Harshvardhan Barve of Bhiwandi Taluka police station said the injured had left for their native place with relatives before their statements could be recorded. “An FIR will be registered after recording the statements of the injured, and appropriate action will be taken against the person found responsible,” he said.
