Mishap on Yamuna Expressway leaves 6 dead

Six members of a family were killed in a road accident on Yamuna Expressway after a roadways bus collided with their car in the small hours on Thursday. Three others were left seriously injured and are presently battling for their lives at a hospital in Agra.

The accident took place at around 1:00 am when the Maruti Eeco car, with nine passengers on board, was returning to Firozabad after completing their Vrindavan trip.

The family took a halt on Yamuna Expressway near Sadabad area in Hathras when an Uttar Pradesh roadways bus coming from behind rammed into the car. The intensity of the collision was such that the car was badly crushed. Some passengers in the roadways bus also received minor injuries.

The deceased, Manisha (40), her three sons Heera (15), Vipin(20) and Hero(16) and her daughter Sapna(10) hailing from Firozabad died on the spot. Apart from them Sandeep (28), the driver, also died in the incident. Among the injured were Sandeep's wife Sangeeta (26), her daughter Gudda(2) and Girish(15) are said to be critical.

"Soon after the incident was reported to us, the police team was rushed to the spot. The victims were taken to the nearby hospital where doctors declared six members brought dead while three suffered serious injuries. The bodies of the deceased have been sent for the postmortem while the injured are getting treatment," said Manisha Singh, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Hathras.

"The prima facie suspects that the car was standing still on the E-way and the bus coming from behind collided with it. A case has been registered and our investigations are on. It is likely that the bus driver had dosed off due to which he lost control of the vehicle," added Singh.

The 165-km long Yamuna Expressway is an accident-prone road. The accidents are majorly caused by over speeding of the vehicles. Experts believe that speeding during summers is due to heating which causes subsequent bursting of tyres whereas, in winters, a majority of the accidents are caused dut to low visibility owing to fog.

In past five years, there had been 4,054 accidents on the Yamuna Expressway, resulting in 584 fatalities. In 2016, there were 1,193 accidents with 128 fatalities while the figures stood at 919 accidents with 142 fatalities in 2015.

The speed limit for small vehicles is 100 km/hr whereas the speed limit for heavy vehicles is 60 km/hr.

But, one can easily witness small vehicles driving 120 km/hr which sometimes reaches to 150 km/hr as well. With no or very less monitoring system installed on the E-way, the drivers fearlessly cross the speed limit which results in fatal road accidents.