7 die as cars collide on Pune highway

PUNE: Seven persons were killed and three sustained severe injuries after two cars collided, head-on, at Karla near Lonavla on the old Mumbai-pune highway on Sunday afternoon.

According to officials, four of those who died in the accident are from the same family and were headed out for a picnic.

The two cars involved in the accident have been identified as a Swift and a Santro.the accident took place between 2 pm and 3 pm near Karla phata, about 8 km from Lonavla, leading to a massive traffic jam on the highway.

The police said that the Santro was going towards Pune, while the Swift was headed towards Mumbai. Due to the weekend there was a heavy rush of traffic on the highway, compounded by heavy rain.

The driver of the Swift lost control and the car jumped the road divider, colliding head-on with the Santro coming from the opposite direction.such was impact that both cars were mangled.the occupants were taken to a local hospital, where seven of them were proclaimed dead on arrival.

The four passengers in the Swift who died have been identified as Rajeev Jagannath Bahirat (52), Sonali Rajeev Bahirat (46), Jahanvi Rajeev Bahirat (20) and Jagannath Chandrasen Bahirat (23), all residents of Survey No 52 at BT Kawade road; while the deceased travelling in the Santro were Sanjeev Mohanraj Kushwah (17), a resident of Amardeep colony in Rahatni, Krushna Ramesh Shirsat ( 22)and Nikhil Balaji Sarode (20).

Ajay Bahirat , a family member of the deceased, said that family were headed for a picnic to Lonavla when the tragedy happened.