Two Killed and Five Injured After SUV Carrying Masons From Dadar Crashes
Two men were killed and five others, including a woman, were injured on Wednesday morning after an SUV carrying masons hired from Dadar crashed into a parked breakdown container truck on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. The accident occurred at the 25km-mark on the service road near Khalapur, Navi Mumbai, shortly after the vehicle crossed the Madap tunnel. The passengers had boarded the vehicle in Dadar to travel to a construction site in Pune.
The SUV driver, identified as 52-year-old Ghansoli resident Savanna Anadan, was driving a T-permit vehicle. He had picked up the six masons, which included a contractor, from Dadar earlier that morning. Anadan was hired to drop the group at the Pune construction site for a total fare of Rs 3,000.
According to Khalapur police inspector Sachin Pawar, the police suspect that low visibility caused by heavy rain led to the crash. Anadan reportedly did not notice the breakdown container truck parked on the service road and crashed directly into it.
The impact of the collision killed two passengers and injured five others. The deceased were identified as 33-year-old Mohammad Rehman Mohammed Mustaq Shaikh and 31-year-old labor contractor Gulam Mustafa Kasimuddin Shaikh. Both victims were residents of Kurla who originally hailed from Kolkata.
Four of the injured masons were admitted to the MGM Hospital in Kamothe. They were identified by the police as Rahim Shaikh, 26, Ajmal Kitbule, 26, Alik Shaikh, 26, and Asma Alaq Temudin, 32. The SUV driver, Anadan, sustained only minor bruises in the mishap and was not hospitalised.
Following the incident, the Khalapur police registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Anadan for rash and negligent driving. The case was registered acting on a complaint filed by the container truck driver, 42-year-old Mahendra Kumar Jaiswar.
Anadan was booked under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Motor Vehicles Act for offences including causing death by negligence.
