1 dead, over 35 hurt as 60 vehicles pile-up at Yamuna Expressway

Blinded by dense fog, as many as 60 vehicles were involved in a pile-up at the infamous Yamuna Expressway on Sunday morning, in which a 56-year-old woman lost her life, while over 35 people were injured. 

The police said the woman was identified as Geeta Gaur of Delhi, who succumbed to her injuries at Kailash Hospital.

The pile-up led to a massive jam on both sides of the expressway, which connects Greater Noida with Agra, and the authorities took around four hours to streamline vehicular flow. According to the police, the accident took place 27km from the Jewar toll plaza on the Agra-Greater Noida side around 8:30 am. Police said the incident took place when two speeding SUVs collided while trying to overtake each other. 

Eyewitness told the police that drivers of the two SUVs – a Fortuner and a BMW – were racing and trying to overtaking each other on the lane from Agra to Greater Noida. The driver of the Fortuner, which was moving ahead, lost control and took a sudden break. Suddenly, the BMW driver crashed into the Fortuner and soon there was a pile-up involving around 60 vehicles.

"The incident took place after two speeding cars tried to overtake each other in dense fog but lost control as their tyres skid off the road. This created a chain-reaction of collisions as other vehicles coming from behind rammed each other and resulted in a pile-up," said an eye-witness.

Ten people, including two pregnant women, have received severe injuries and were admitted to a private hospital in Greater Noida, police said.

Commuters and two ambulances were stuck in heavy traffic for hours on the e-way. Cranes were deployed to remove the mangled cars and tow away the ambulances from the stretch. A senior police official said the ambulances of Yamuna e-way authority and a private hospital were rushed on the spot. 

On January 10, five persons of one family were killed and three others were injured near Surir in Mathura on the e-way. Similarly, 15 vehicles piled-up near Katariya area of Naujheel on the Yamuna expressway, injuring 12 people on January 8. On December 22, a dozen people were injured in a massive pile-up of 17 vehicles triggered after they collided with an SUV, which broke down in the middle of the road in dense fog on the expressway near Kolana-Banger area which comes under the jurisdiction of Naujheel police station.