A 33-year-old man was killed and at least five others were injured after a speeding trailer truck travelling downhill rammed multiple vehicles during a snarl on Delhi-Jaipur Expressway in Manesar on Thursday night, said police on Friday.
Investigators said that the deceased was Sandeep Kumar, 33, of Barna in Kurukshetra. He was working as a senior engineer at an automobile manufacturing firm. The critically injured people were his colleagues, Vinay Kumar Gupta, 32, of Bajali colony in Faridkot, in Punjab; Sumit Kumar, 34, Rajiv colony in Fatehabad; their cab driver Surender Kumar, 46, of Mahendragarh, both in Haryana.
Drivers of two more cars and the trailer were also injured in the accident but their identities were yet to be ascertained, said police.
Police said due to the snarl, it took time for the cranes and emergency response vehicles to reach the spot to take out the injured persons from the crumpled cab. The four were rushed to a private hospital in Manesar but doctors declared Sandeep dead on arrival.
Investigators said that while the occupants of the remaining two cars were rushed to different hospitals, the trailer driver had fled from the spot.
Police said the deceased was a senior engineer working with the research division of the Hero MotoCorp in Jaipur. The deceased and his colleagues had reached Dharuhera in Rewari for
inspection of their manufacturing plant after a visit from their Neemrana plant in Rajasthan.
Police said the trio were travelling in a Swift Dzire car to further reach the Gurugram plant of the firm when the accident took place at 9pm on Thursday.
Sandeep Turan, public relations officer of Gurugram police, said the trailer truck was loaded with multiple rolls of several tonnes of sheet metal and was coming towards Gurugram.
“There was a snarl on the expressway and the entire traffic was moving slowly. The trailer driver had likely fallen asleep or lost control after brake failure which resulted in the accident,” he said, adding they were trying to trace the trailer driver and arrest him soon.
Officials said the several tonnes of shipment along with the downhill movement of the heavily loaded truck also contributed to the crash.
Investigators said that due to the impact of the accident, the cab in which the deceased was travelling, got transformed into a crushed wreck of scrap metal while the two other cars were pushed into the ditch between the carriageway and service road. After hitting the three cars, the trailer veered off course and toppled after falling into the ditch between the service lane and the main carriageway.
On complaint of the cab driver, an FIR was registered against the unidentified trailer driver under sections 106 (causing death by negligence), 281 (rash driving), 125(b) (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 324(4) (Mischief causing damage to the amount of ₹20,000 and more but less than ₹1 lakh) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita at Manesar police station on Friday. The body of the deceased is expected to be handed over to the family after an autopsy on Saturday.