Truck hits tractor on NH-24, 2 dead

GHAZIABAD: Two persons in a pickup van were killed on NH-24 near Dasna on Friday morning after their vehicle crashed into a tractor-trolley laden with protruding iron girders. The driver and the conductor of the pickup van were impaled by the iron rods, killing them on the spot.

Police said the pickup van was headed to Uttarakhand from Jaipur and was carrying several daily wage workers. It was being driven by Ravi Shankar Mehra, 21, and Ganpat Mehra,19, was in the passenger’s seat.

The accident took place around 7am near IMS College, Dasna. “The pickup van crashed into the rear of the tractor-trolley and the iron girders pierced through the neck of the driver and chest of the conductor. They lost a lot of blood and were declared dead on arrival at the hospital. Two of the workers were also injured but they are stable. The driver of the tractor- trolley fled the spot but his vehicle was seized,” Aparna Gautam, ASP (Masuri), said.

The police have lodged an FIR against the driver of the tractortrolley under IPC sections for rash driving (279) and causing death by negligence (304a).

Carrying iron bars and girders by illegal vehicles such as ‘Jugaad’, a vehicle comprising an old scooter engine with a cart mounted on top, is a common practice in Ghaziabad and rural parts of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab.

Although the police are unclear whether the tractortrolley was moving or stationary on the highway at the time of the accident, they said it was bound for Hapur from Ghaziabad.

“It seems that one of the two vehicles involved in the accident was trying to overtake the other and that led to the collision. Since the driver of the tractor-trolley fled, we have launched search for him on the basis of the registration number of the tractor,” Gautam said.