PUNE, 14 NOV. The news reports a devastating road accident that occurred near the Navale Bridge on the Pune-Bengaluru National Highway. This catastrophic incident took place on a Thursday evening on a stretch of the highway notorious for its steep gradient and frequent, often fatal, mishaps.
Initial investigations suggest that the accident was triggered by a large container truck, which was traveling from Satara and heading towards Mumbai (or Pune-bound). The truck is suspected to have suffered a critical brake failure while descending the steep slope after the Katraj tunnel. Losing all control, the truck crashed into multiple vehicles ahead of it, setting off a massive chain collision that ultimately involved a reported twenty or more vehicles, including cars and other heavy transport trucks.
A particularly tragic aspect of the crash was a passenger car that became fatally crushed between two large container trucks. The sheer force of this multi-vehicle impact immediately sparked a fierce fire, which quickly engulfed the trapped car and several other heavy vehicles.
As a direct consequence of this horrific event, eight people were killed. The deceased included an entire family trapped inside the crushed car, among them a three-year-old child, along with two women and two men from the same vehicle. Additionally, the driver and cleaner of one of the trucks were also reported to have lost their lives. In the aftermath of the collision, approximately twenty-two other individuals sustained various injuries and were urgently rushed to nearby hospitals for immediate medical attention.
The chaos led to a massive traffic jam, bringing the flow of vehicles on the busy national highway to a complete halt. Police, fire department personnel, and emergency teams swiftly reached the spot, where they deployed multiple water tankers to bring the raging blaze under control and began extensive rescue operations to extract victims from the mangled wreckage. Following the tragic loss of lives, the state government announced an ex-gratia payment of ₹5 lakh to the families of those who died. The incident has tragically underscored the persistent dangers of this section of the highway, where human error and mechanical failure often combine to cause devastating consequences.
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