Navsari/Surendranagar: Nine persons, five of them members of one family, were killed and three others injured Monday in two separate road accidents in Gujarat, police said. Five members of a family, including two women, were killed, while a teenage boy was seriously injured after their car met with an accident on the outskirts of Navsari town in south Gujarat Monday evening, officials said.
The victims were returning home from Surat after completing shopping for a marriage when their car got crushed under a shipping container that fell off a truck, they said. The deceased included one Praful Patel, his wife Minakshi and three of their close relatives, including a woman. A teenage boy was rescued in critical condition and admitted to a nearby hospital, said Navsari DSP SK Rai.
On learning about the accident, local MLA and state Tribal Development Minister Naresh Patel rushed to the spot and supervised the rescue operations. “The Patel family of Samroli village in Chikhli taluka of Navsari district had gone to Surat for marriage-related shopping. When they were returning, a shipping container mounted on a truck slipped and fell on their car. While five persons were crushed to death, one boy was rescued and admitted to hospital,” Patel told reporters.
Investigation by the local police revealed that the truck driver lost control of the vehicle while negotiating a sharp curve near Dholapipla village on the state highway. “Due to the sharp curve, the container on the truck fell off and crushed the van in which the family was travelling. Due to the container’s weight, the car got flattened. The truck driver has been detained for further legal procedure,” said Rai.
Earlier in the day, four people were killed and two others grievously injured when their van collided head-on with a bus near Limbdi in Surendranagar district, police informed. The victims were going from Rajkot to Rajasthan to attend a marriage function when the accident took place at around 2.30 am near Katariya village on the Rajkot-Ahmedabad highway, over 100 km from Ahmedabad. All the four deceased, in their 20s, were residents of Rajkot, informed police.
