Ratlam, Sep 29 (IANS) : At least four people were killed and eight others injured in two separate road accidents on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway in Madhya Pradesh’s Ratlam district on Tuesday, police said.
The accidents occurred within a span of about two hours on the eight-lane expressway under the jurisdiction of Jaora Industrial police station, with both cars plunging into a 30-40 feet deep gorge after hitting the central median.
The first accident took place around 4:30 a.m. when a car carrying a family from Punjab, travelling from Ambala in Haryana to Mumbai, hit the median railing.
The vehicle broke through a portion of the railing and fell into the gorge, police said. Narendra Kaur (67) and her daughter-in-law Manpreet Kaur (32), both from Punjab, died in the accident. Three other occupants, including an elderly man and two children, were injured.
“Prima facie, it appears that the driver may have become drowsy while driving at high speed and lost control of the vehicle, causing it to hit the railing,” Jaora Industrial police station in-charge Prakash Gadariya said.
Police reached the spot after receiving information from other motorists and shifted the injured to a hospital in Jaora.
They were later referred to Ratlam Medical College for further treatment. While police personnel were examining the site of the first accident, another car carrying a family from Dahod in Gujarat met with an accident around 6:30 a.m., police said.
The second vehicle, bearing registration number GJ20 CB 4610, reportedly went airborne after hitting the central median and fell into the gorge.
The railing at the spot had been damaged in the first accident. Ravi Hatila (35), who was driving the second car, and Ramesh Makwana (50), both from Dahod, were killed. Four to five other occupants of the vehicle were injured.
“The railing had been damaged in the first accident, and while our personnel were conducting an inspection at the spot, the second car hit the median and fell into the gorge,” Gadariya said.
The Gujarat family was returning to Dahod after travelling to Uttar Pradesh for medical treatment of a family member.
Police have launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding both accidents, including the condition of the road infrastructure and the factors that led to the vehicles losing control.
