4 charred to death as truck catches fire after crash on Katraj-Dehu Road bypass

PUNE: Four people, including a woman and a boy (about eight years old), were charred to death around 9.30pm on Monday as the front portion of the truck they were travelling in caught fire after hitting two container trucks near Swaminarayan Temple on Katraj-Dehu Road bypass.
Both vehicles were heading towards Mumbai from Satara. The accident occurred on the gradual slope of the bypass between new Katraj tunnel and Navale bridge.Following the accident, vehicular movement on the bypass came to stand still for almost an hour.
The traffic movement was restored around 10.30pm, after the damaged trucks were taken off the carriageway.
The two injured people were moved to a private hospital at Narhe. They were reported out of danger.
Bodies of deceased found after fire was doused: Cops
Personnel from the Sinhagad Road and the Bharati Vidyapeeth police stations rushed to the spot after the accident. Four fire tenders were pressed into the rescue operation. Senior inspector Abhay Mahajan of Sinhagad Road police said, “The truck was carrying maize husk to Gujarat from Vita in Sangli. It added fuel to the fire. The truck owner told us his brother was driving the truck.”
He said, “The truck hit a container truck first on the slope. The latter turned on its side. The truck then hit another container truck ahead of it. Following this, the fire started from the truck’s engine compartment and it quickly engulfed the front prtion of the vehicle.” Inspector Jayant Rajurkar of the Sinhagad Road police said, “It is suspected that the truck driver and the cleaner had picked up some passengers during their journey from Sangli to Pune. All these people were trapped inside the driver’s cabin.”
He said, “Two injured people fell down. We found the bodies of the deceased after the fire was doused.” He said, “Later in the night, we identified the deceased truck driver as Govind Jadhav and the truck cleaner as Somnath Nile, both residents of Sangli. We are yet to ascertain the identity of the woman and the boy.” Rajurkar said, “We came to know that one of the injured men admitted to the hospital was accompanying the woman and the boy. They were supposed to get down at Hinjewadi. All the deceased and the injured people are from Sangli.
We are yet to register any case or statement in this regard.” City fire brigade chief Devendra Potphode said, “Our teams from Sinhagad Road and Katraj fire stations reached the spot after receiving the emergency call. The chassis and the front section of the driver’s cabin had bent and people were trapped inside. Some passersby rescued a man from the cleaner’s side of the cabin. Our team mebers then cut open the body of the truck to rescue people. Four bodies were found inside.”