4 of a Mumbai family killed in expressway mishap

Yet another mishap on the Mumbai-Pune expressway, which has become a virtual death trap due to large number of mishaps, claimed lives of four members of a family from Kharghar in Navi Mumbai on Saturday. The mishap which took place near Kalamboli at around 5.15 am involving a truck and an SUV also left six people injured. The injured included four children.

The victims who lost lives in the mishap have been identified as Sujata Anil Lokhande, Anil Ashok Lokhande, Rani Sunil Lokhande and Abhishek Sunil Lokhande. The injured victims include Sunil Ashok Lokhande, Latika Ashok Lokhande and four children Shubham, Gauri, Pragati and Gayatri.

According to the Kalamboli police, the Lokhande family hails from Kharghar and it had gone to Solapur on a religious tour. The family was returning to Kharghar in a Mahindra Xylo SUV on Saturday morning.

The SUV was overtaking a truck from the right side on the expressway near Asudgaon just before the expressway ends, when the truck suddenly changed its lane and entered the right lane. The SUV got trapped between the truck and a divider and it was damaged. Four occupants of the car died on the spot and the injured have been taken to MGM Hospital in Kamothe. The truck driver ran way after the mishap.

In the last two months, the expressway has witnessed 16 accidents in which 18 people lost their lives and 70 sustained serious injuries. There were total 172 accidents reported on the expressway in 2011 in which 77 commuters lost their lives and 195 were seriously injured.