Lucknow: At least 25 people were killed and 59 injured in a string of fog-related road accidents across Uttar Pradesh, police said on Tuesday. The most severe incident occurred on the Yamuna Expressway in Mathura, where a large pile-up involving multiple vehicles resulted in a fire that claimed 13 lives.
Mathura recorded the highest number of fatalities, followed by four deaths each in Basti and Unnao, and two in Meerut and Barabanki. Officials said all accidents took place under conditions of extremely poor visibility.
President Droupadi Murmu offered condolences over the Mathura crash in which 13 people were burnt to death and 43 others sustained injuries after several vehicles collided in dense fog around 4:30 am on the Agra to Noida corridor of the expressway under the Baldev police station.
According to Senior Superintendent of Police Shlok Kumar, the Mathura pile-up involved night buses and four smaller vehicles, many of which caught fire after the collisions. “The vehicles collided due to low visibility. All the injured were sent to hospitals,” he said. Visuals from the site showed blackened remains of buses and cars as cranes worked to clear the mangled frames. Baldev SHO Ranjana Sachan confirmed that all victims died of burns. Three of them were identified as Akhilendra Pratap Yadav, 44, of Prayagraj, Rampal, 75, of Maharajganj, and Sultan Ahmed, 62, of Gonda. Police collected DNA samples from the bodies to confirm identities, with Kumar noting that officials had begun contacting families of those identified.
Narrating the rescue operation, Mathura District Magistrate Chandra Prakash Singh told MillenniumPost that immediately after receiving information about the accident, the district administration, police, and fire department were put on high alert, and fire tenders along with rescue teams were promptly dispatched to the spot.
Singh said arrangements were underway for the last rites of those identified and added that a four-member inquiry committee headed by Additional District Magistrate (Administration) Amresh Kumar had been asked to submit its report within two days.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Radha Vallabh said two medical teams were deployed for autopsies and DNA sampling, and 17 body bags were sent for examination. Critically injured victims were shifted to SN Medical College in Agra, while others were taken to hospitals in Delhi and the Joint District Hospital in Vrindavan, where 43 injured people, including 10 women, were admitted by midday.
Survivors described visibility as “almost zero” at the time of the crash. One injured man, travelling to Delhi, said from his stretcher, “It was fog. Many people have died.” Eyewitnesses recounted how buses and cars struck each other in quick succession, leading to fires in several vehicles and triggering panic among passengers.
Aman Yadav of Kanpur, who had been on his way to the Banke Bihari temple, said his car was hit in the fog, followed by a series of collisions behind him. Nasima from Hamirpur said the bus she was travelling in caught fire after a crash, and while she escaped, her husband suffered serious injuries.
The accident caused a long traffic jam on the expressway’s Noida-bound lanes, which was later cleared by diverting vehicles. The district magistrate said the crash occurred near the 127 km milestone, and rescue operations involving police, fire brigade personnel and the State Disaster Response Force concluded within six hours. Traffic flow resumed after debris was removed.
“Police patrolling on the expressway has been intensified, and additional safety measures are being considered to prevent such accidents. People have been advised to avoid travel during dense fog unless absolutely necessary and to ensure their vehicles are equipped with fog lamps. Going forward, traffic movement during dense fog may be regulated at toll plazas, with vehicles halted and then released in batches under the escort of highway patrol vehicles at a minimum speed,” Singh told MillenniumPost.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced Rs 2 lakh ex gratia for families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for each injured person.
In Barabanki, two people died and three were injured when a speeding Maruti Ertiga collided with a Mahindra Scorpio on the Purvanchal Expressway near Sariyan village amid dense fog. The deceased were identified as Babloo, 35, of Chapra in Bihar, and Deepak Kumar, 36, of Azamgarh.
In Basti, four people were killed and 11 seriously injured on Monday evening when a bus carrying Urs pilgrims from Sant Kabir Nagar to Ajmer Sharif crashed head-on with a truck on the Basti Lumbini road. Those killed included two passengers, the bus driver Sandeep Pandey, 32, and truck driver Shiv Raj Singh. Three critically injured passengers were referred to BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur.
In Unnao, four salt traders from Ghaziabad died around 6 am after their SUV hit a divider following a tyre burst on the Agra Lucknow Expressway near the airstrip. The victims were Ashok Agarwal, 57, Akash Agarwal, 35, and Abhinav Agarwal, 20. Efforts are underway to identify the fourth deceased person.
In Meerut, a policeman and another man died after their car fell off a bridge into the Hindon River late Monday night. The victims were Head Constable Rahul Kumar, 35, of Bulandshahr, and Azruddin, 32, of Baghpat.
Authorities have urged motorists to exercise heightened caution as dense fog continues to blanket many parts of Uttar Pradesh.