Yamuna Expressway accident: Pieces of vehicle parts are seen scattered at the accident site
Highlights
- Police said SUV tried to overtake mini-truck around 2:30 am
- Police said they are looking for the mini-truck's driver
- Four injured doctors taken to AIIMS in Delhi
Three doctors of India's top medical institution AIIMS were killed when the SUV they were travelling in hit a mini-truck from behind on
Yamuna Expressway early morning today. Four more doctors were injured.
The seven doctors were travelling in a Toyota Innova SUV on the six-lane expressway where speed limit is set at 100 kilometres per hour.
Police said the Innova tried to overtake the Eicher mini-truck around 2:30 am when it lost control and hit the larger vehicle from behind. It is yet to be determined at what speed the SUV was trying to overtake the mini-truck. The mangled steel door of the SUV came off its hinges and was seen lying on the expressway, suggesting a very high impact speed.
The accident happened near Mathura, 60 kilometres from Agra, where the 165-km-long expressway ends.
Three of the AIIMS doctors who died on the spot have been identified as Dr Hem Bala, Dr Yashpreet and Dr Harshad. Four others -- Dr Jitendra, Dr Catherine, Dr Abhinav and Dr Mahesh -- have been taken to AIIMS in Delhi for treatment.
"The seven AIIMS doctors were going to Agra to celebrate the birthday of Dr Harshad (who died in the accident). Surgeries have been performed on the four injured doctors. All are out of danger," AIIMS trauma care centre chief Dr Rajesh Malhotra said.
A door of the SUV that got separated from its hinges after the accident on Yamuna Expressway
Police said the mini-truck has a Uttar Pradesh registration number. Its driver abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot, senior police officer Aditya Kumar Shukla said, adding they are looking for him now.
Yamuna Expressway has seen a
high number of accidents since it was opened in August 2012.
In October 2017, a report by road safety non-profit group Community Against Drunken Driving said Yamuna Expressway could be one of India's deadliest roads. Thirty accidents are reported from this expressway on an average every week, the report prepared with data from police sources and the National Crime Records Bureau said.
Pile-ups with fatalities are common during peak winter when thick fog covers long stretches of the expressway.