12 killed in two road accidents in Pune region

Pune, Dec 18 (IANS) At least 12 persons were killed and many more were hurt in two separate accidents involving trucks, a car and an autorickshaw in different parts of the Pune region, late Sunday night, officials said here on Monday.

In the first instance, eight persons were killed when a delivery truck speeding from Ahmednagar to Kalyan in Thane rammed into an autorickshaw coming from the opposition direction near the Pimpalgaon Joga holiday resort, at 11.30 p.m.

Among the deceased were seven passengers travelling in the autorickshaw and the delivery vehicle driver.

In the second tragedy, four members of a family were crushed to death while overtaking a truck which crashed on their car on the Pune-Nashik Highway, at 11 p.m.

The victims include Sunil Dharankar, 48, his wife Asha, 42, a 2-year-old toddler girl, Ojasvi, and a relative Abhay S. Visal, while a woman, Asmit A. Visal was rescued by the local villagers and rushed to nearby hospital in a critical condition.

The truck driver fled from the spot after the mishap, and the police have launched a manhunt to track him down. The cause of both the accidents is being probed.

The local police reached the two affected accident spots soon afterwards, shifted the damaged vehicles and cleared the massive traffic jams that built up on both the highways by early this morning.