Yamuna E-way crash claims 5 lives

NOIDA/AGRA: At least five persons were killed while three others are critically injured after a speeding Maruti Ertiga car overturned after hitting the divider on Yamuna Expressway in Agra in the wee hours of Sunday, said police officials. Cops said that all of them were going to attend a wedding party in Deoria district from Greater Noida.

The incident took place around 2 am near Ehtmadpur area at the expressway. “The car was part of the wedding procession, was travelling at high speed when it collided with a divider and overturned. There were eight passengers in the car, of which four died on the spot including the brother of the bridegroom. Four others were taken to hospital, out of which one died during treatment,” said Sukanya Sharma, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Agra.

According to police, the deceased have been identified as Gautam Kumar (groom’s brother), Chandan Singh (31), Sudesh Kumar (30), residents of Noida and Sanjeev Sharma and Praveen, residents of Bihar.

Rahul and Kuldeep from Noida and Ajay Kumar from Ghaziabad are among the injured. All of them used to do embroidery work.

Sanjeev Sharma is the groom’s neighbour while Chandan and Sudesh are Gautam’s friends.

Praveen is a relative and the car belonged to Sudesh who himself was driving at the time of the incident.

Police said that the car was being driven at a high speed.

“Prima facie it appears that the driver got dozed off and lost control over the car which collided into the divider.

“The speed of car was high as it got badly damaged in the mishap.

“The injured were admitted to SN Medical College while the dead bodies have been sent for postmortem,” added ACP Sharma. A senior police officer from Agra police Commissionerate said that Santosh Kumar, a

resident of Tigri village in Greater Noida was supposed to get married on April 21, Sunday. The procession was going from Noida to Deoria by bus and car.

“There were 8 people in the Ertiga car. The groom’s brother is also among those who died. After the accident the family canceled the wedding,” the senior cop said while adding that liquor bottles were also found in the car.