Car falls into river, villagers rescue four
NAVI MUMBAI : Had it not been for some villagers and construction workers , four people, including a minor, of a family would have lost their lives after their car rolled into a swollen river in Navi Mumbai’s Taloja, 40km east of Mumbai, on Monday.
The passengers suffered minor injuries. Villagers and workers from a nearby construction site rescued the passengers by breaking the car windows within halfan-hour. The car was also winched out of the Ghot river, overflowing owing to heavy rain.
According to the police, Asraf Ali Shaikh, 37, a resident of Wavanje village at Taloja, was driving the car. Shaikh had gone out with his family for some work in the morning and was returning around noon. His 33-year-old wife, Hamida, daughter Suhana, 7, and niece Namira, 17, were travelling with him.
“As they were crossing a 12-foot-wide bridge to reach the other side of the river, they came across another vehicle, coming from the opposite direction,” said Rajendra Avhad, police inspector from Taloja traffic unit. “For letting the other vehicle pass, Shaikh steered his car towards the left and lost control on the car. It fell into the river. It was raining,” he said.
Another traffic official said the river is 20-metre-deep. “A major tragedy was averted because the car fell from the end of the bridge,” said the official.
Another inspector of Taloja police said people tied a rope to the car and pulled it towards the bank.