Low visibility kills 2 in 8-vehicle pile-up on Yamuna Expressway

new delhi: Dense smog on Monday caused an eight-vehicle pile-up on the Yamuna Expressway near Hathras when over half a dozen vehicles rammed into each other due to low visibility. At least two people were killed in the mishap while eight people were injured in the incident and all were rushed to the hospital, said police.

According to police here, the incident took place early on Monday morning when two vehicles collided while other vehicles coming from behind collided into each other and formed a pile-up. These vehicles included six four-wheelers, one two-wheeler and a truck.

As the information was conveyed, police teams from the Hathras police station area were rushed to the spot and the victims were taken to hospitals in Agra for

treatment.

"The incident which involved a pile-up of around eight vehicles took place early Monday morning near village Midawali in Hathras. Over half a dozen people have sustained injuries in the accident out of which some have received serious injuries in the incident and are getting treatment at a nearby private hospital," Vineet Jaiswal, Superintendent of Police, said.

"Prima Facie the incident was a result of low density due to fog, however, police investigations into the case are underway," he added.

Similar incidents at the 165-km long Yamuna Expressway are witnessed every year when a dense layer of fog and smog engulfs the Delhi-NCR region and visibility gets reduced to few meters. In view of foggy weather conditions at the onset of the winter season, the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) has reduced the maximum speed limit on the

highway.

Air quality in the NCR has been in the "severe" category for six days in a row now and areas like Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Noida, Greater Noida and others have consistently been in the red.