Eight people were killed and 14 others injured after a car was crushed between two large container trucks and caught fire on the Mumbai-Bengaluru highway in Pune on Thursday evening, police said.
The collision occurred on Navale Bridge, a stretch long known for frequent accidents. The impact triggered a massive blaze that engulfed all three vehicles.
Police said the crash occurred after the driver of a heavy container truck heading towards Mumbai reportedly lost control.
“As per preliminary information, a heavy container truck was going towards Mumbai. Its driver lost control due to a suspected brake failure on the bridge, and it hit a few vehicles in its way including a mini-bus before ramming into another big container in front. A car was caught between these two trucks and got crushed badly,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police Sambhaji Kadam.
The impact was so severe that the car’s CNG kit is suspected to have exploded, triggering an inferno that left rescue workers battling towering flames.
“The fire erupted due to the impact of the collision,” said Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar, who visited the site.
Eight fire tenders and tankers rushed to the scene.
“When our personnel reached the spot, they found that a car was trapped between two big container trucks and a huge fire had erupted. The fire was doused. Charred bodies were retrieved from a truck and the car,” said Devendra Potphode, Chief Fire Officer, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).
Municipal Commissioner Naval Kishore Ram said the city’s disaster management, fire, and medical teams swung into action immediately. “Ambulances, cranes and JCBs were deployed and the injured were shifted to hospitals,” he said.
The victims in the car were identified as Swati Santosh Navalkar (37), Shanta Dattatray Dabhade (54), and Dattatray Chandrakant Dabhade (58), residents of Dhayari in Pune; three-year-old Mokshita Reddy from Chikhli in Pimpri Chinchwad; and Dhananjay Koli (30) from Kolhapur.
Another deceased was identified as Rohit Kadam (25) of Satara. The identities of two others, recovered from one of the container trucks, remain unknown. Most of the injured were passengers in the minibus caught in the chain collision.
Traffic on the busy highway came to a standstill as rescue teams battled the blaze and began removing the charred remains of vehicles.
The bridge, one of Pune’s most notorious accident zones, once again drew questions about road safety enforcement.
In a statement, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis called the accident “tragic and painful” and announced Rs 5 lakh compensation for the families of the deceased.
