Nagpur: At least six people, including a three-year-old boy, were killed and seven others injured after a head-on collision between a truck and an overcrowded SUV ferrying migrant labourers and their families on Gondia-Balaghat state highway late Monday.The high-speed crash occurred near Nagra village, 5km off Gondia city, forcing the truck to topple over and crush trapped labourers in the SUV. Eyewitnesses said, traffic on the highway was affected for hours with wreckage and mangled metal strewn everywhere.Gondia superintendent of police (SP) Gorakh Bhamre said, a crane had to be deployed to lift the overturned truck before rescuers could extricate those trapped inside the SUV.“CCTV footage suggests the SUV had drifted onto the wrong side of the road. The driver then attempted to veer left to avoid a collision, but the two vehicles crashed head-on,” the SP said. He added the accident occurred on a partially constructed stretch, where median dividers are absent.As per Gondia Rural police, the vehicle was transporting labourers and their families from Kirnapur and Lanji tehsils of Balaghat district in Madhya Pradesh to Hyderabad in Telangana. Around 11.30 pm, as the vehicle approached Nagra, it was hit by the truck.Hearing the loud crash, villagers and passers-by rushed to the spot. Police personnel, assisted by locals, used gas cutters and rescue equipment to pull out the dead and injured. They were taken to a hospital in Gondia, where doctors declared six dead on arrival. The seven injured are under treatment.The deceased include three-year-old Aarush Matre of Savari, Kiran Vaidya, 26, of Lodama, Santosh Matre, 38, and Sushila Matre, 35, residents of Kinhi in Kirnapur tehsil, Rupsen Satyakar, 35, and his wife Jyoti, 32, of Nimdevada.The injured include complainant Rajendra Pandhare, 30, of Pipalgaon Khurd in Kirnapur, Bhumeshwar Matre, 37, and his wife Sangeeta, 35; Santosh Vaidya, 35, Rakesh Bahe, 24, Lakshmi Panchal, 27, and Sandeep Bahe, 35.Gondia Rural police registered a case under relevant provisions of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, and Motor Vehicles Act.Truck driver, Mohsin Khan of Gondia, was initially named accused, but CCTV footage analysis SUV driver Sandeep Bahe was named co-accused. “Blood samples of both drivers have been collected as part of investigation,” Bhamre said.The probe is being conducted by assistant sub-inspector Varsha Naitam under the supervision of police inspector Vaibhav Pawar. Deputy superintendent of police Dineshchandra Shukla visited the hospital and met the injured.
