Miraculous escape for six of a family after car gets crushed between two trailer trucks

Miraculous escape for six of a family after car gets crushed between two trailer trucks
A 65-year-old man died while six of his relatives, including a three-year-old girl, had a miraculous escape when their car got crushed between two trailer trucks on the Kharghar flyover in Navi Mumbai around 7.15 am on Sunday.

Such was the impact of the collision that the police and the fire brigade officials struggled for more than 30 minutes to extricate four survivors from the car – a Maruti Eco – while the driver of one of the trucks is absconding.

According to the officers from Kharghar Police Station, Airoli residents Chandrashekhar Kerkar, 30, his wife Shravani, 28, daughter Divya, three, brother Umesh, 25, and relatives Rohit Thorat, 25, Deepali Achrekar, 19, and Harichandra Achrekar, 65, were on their way to Malwan when a speeding trailer truck rammed into their car from rear, resulting in the car ramming into another truck in the front. “The trailer truck driver couldn’t apply brakes in time and the car got crushed between his truck and the one in the front. It’s sheer miracle that there weren’t more casualties,” an officer from Kharghar Police Station said, adding that the truck driver fled from the spot.

While the fire brigade officials tried extricating those trapped in the car, the accident lead to a massive traffic jam, which was cleared more than an hour after the mishap. The family was rushed to MGM Hospital in Vashi, where Harichandra Achrekar succumbed to injuries. PB Bodhke from the Kharghar Fire Department said that two fire engines and a dozen firemen were involved in the rescue operation. “We had to cut the car into four parts to rescue those trapped,” he said.

Assistant Inspector Vaibhav Swami from Kharghar Police Station said that efforts were being made to arrest the driver. “We have booked the accused under Indian Penal Code sections 304A (causing death due to negligence) and 279 (rash driving), besides Section 184 (driving dangerously) of the Motor Vehicle Act,” he said.