Four students were killed and a girl student was injured in an accident on the old Pune-Mumbai highway after their car hit a truck head-on at 3 am on Sunday. The accident took place near Treasure Island resort at Karla on old Pune-Mumbai highway.
The students were on a trip to Lonavla. The police claimed they were speeding when the accident took place.
Lonavla rural police identified the deceased as Rohit Sashikant Shukla (23), a native of Kanpur; Garima Goyal (22) of Chandigarh; Ankit Garg (22) of Rajasthan; and Aditya Agarwal (23) also a native of Rajasthan.
Ankit and Rohit studied at Indira School of Business Studies in Tathawade village while Garima and Aditya were from Indira School of Career Studies at Wakad.
Ishita Agarwal (20), also from Indira School of Career Studies, survived the mishap with injuries.
The injured girl Ishita Agarwal (20), also from Indira School of Career Studies has been admitted at Phoenix Hospital at Kalewadi Phata with minor fractures on her right ribs and minor scratches to the right thigh.
According to the police, Ankit was driving his car (RJ-24-CA-1520) when the steering wheel got locked and the car veered into the opposite lane. Assistant inspector of Lonavla rural police, Sandip Yede said the car turned turtle twice before colliding with a truck (MH-04-FU-6384) coming from the opposite direction.
Yede said that three students -- Rohit, Aditya and Garima -- died on the spot due to impact of the collision, while Ankit died on the way to the hospital.
Dreams have gone crashing...literally!
Three months ago, when Kanpur resident Gaurav Shukla spent a part of his life savings to secure admission for his younger brother Rohit in a reputed management institute, little did he know that he will lose his sibling.
Shukla’s parents had died a few years ago and Gaurav was not just a brother but also played the role of a father to his kid brother, one of the four persons who died in an accident on old Pune-Mumbai highway.
Sunday’s disaster not just claimed four young lives, but also shattered the dreams of their parents who hoped to see the students shape their future.
On August 4, another victim Aditya Agarwal had come down to Pune with a dream to complete his management course and join his family business. A night prior to leaving for the trip to Lonavla with his friends, Aditya had called his parents and told them about his plan.
Aditya’s uncle Ashok Jalan (44) said, “He was a brilliant child and was good in sports too. We had sent him to Pune to fulfill his dream as he wanted to join his family business after studying management. His family is shattered as they spoke to him just four hours prior to his death. His family is based in Baroda and his father is currently in Rajasthan. The family is driving down to Pune since no flights were available. Our entire family is in shock and currently we will be taking his body back with us.”
While the body of two deceased students, Ankit Garg and Aditya Agarwal, were taken from Lonavla civil hospital by their families after autopsy, bodies of Kanour resident Rohit Shukla and Garima Goyal, who hails from Chandigarh, will be handed over to their families at Sassoon General Hospital, where their autopsy examinations were conducted. The families hadn’t reached Pune till late evening.
When dna contacted, Ankush Goyal, brother of deceased Garima, he confirmed that the family was boarding an evening flight and would reach Mumbai from where they would drive down to Pune.
Meanwhile, Chetan Wakalkar, director of Indira Group of Institutes, said that the five students came from out of state but were not hostelites.
“The incident is unfortunate. However, at the institute and hostel, we do not allow any student to go out late nights. We had sent out staff to Lonavla and have been co-ordinating to help the families in getting the bodies. We had no knowledge of their movements,” he said.
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