6 killed, 3 injured in Expressway crash

NAVI MUMBAI: Six people were killed and two seriously injured in a late night accident on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway on Thursday. One of them sustained minor injuries.

All nine were travelling in an Ertiga, which hit an unknown vehicle when the driver lost control of the car. The passengers had boarded the vehicle individually from Pimpri and Chinchwad, in Pune, and were headed for Mumbai.

The accident occurred in Khopoli (at 37-kilometer point) at around 11.40pm – the impact of the collision was severe and the car damaged beyond recognition.

Police inspector Shirish Pawar, from Khopoli police station, said, “Our initial assessment is that the driver of the car was over-speeding and rammed onto a container from behind, which killed five on the spot; the sixth person died in the course of treatment.”

The two seriously injured, including the driver of the car, are admitted at MGM, Kamothe (nearly 10 kilometers from Navi Mumbai). Kamothe cops said they are not in a state to give their statements.

The passengers who died on the spot have been identified as Abdul Rehman Khan (32), resident of Ghatkopar; Anil Sunil Sanap, 32, resident of Navy Nagar; Wasim Sajid Kazi, 38, from Ratnagiri; Rahul Kumar Pandey (30), from Kamothe; and Ashutosh Navnath Gandekar, (24), resident of Andheri. Ameerullah Chaudhary, 42, a Ghatkopar resident succumbed during treatment.

Apart from the driver, Deepak Khairal, from Ajmer, was seriously injured.

Asfia Rais Chaudhary (25), from Kurla, sustained minor injuries.

BACHCHAN KUMAR/HT PHOTO Mangled remains of the Ertiga car which rammed into a container, at Khalapur.