Sunday picnic goes awry for three friends

Car with youngsters returning home from trek collides into stationary truck owing to a tyre burst; trio now in hospital

What had started out as a fun Sunday for friends went awry owing to a tyre burst on the Mumbai-Nashik Highway.


Harshal Modi beside the car that met with an accident on the Mumbai-Nashik highway on Sunday. The injured (Inset from left) Apurv Pandit, Divya Ramesh and Deepak Gopalakrishnan


Returning home from Kalsubai, Apurv Pandit (21), who was driving a Hyundai I10 along with Divya Ramesh (25) and their friend Deepak Gopalakrishnan met with an accident on the Mumbai-Nashik highway when their car collided into a stationary truck 100 metres away from Shangrila Resort, on Sunday evening.

The three of them were part of a group of six friends who had planned to go for a trek to Kalsubai.

Harshal Modi (29), Mahesh Sethuraman and Ranjat Goyal, their friends, who were travelling in another car rushed the injured trio to Siraj Memorial Hospital, Bhiwandi.

Modi said, "When we called up Apurv from our car, someone answered his phone and told me that they had met with an accident.

By the time we reached the site of the disaster, bystanders had helped them out of the car."

Sethuraman added, "They were covered in blood and the car was completely mangled. It appeared as if Deepak had the least injuries whereas Apurv suffered memory loss for some time. We rushed them to the hospital."

Later, Divya was shifted to Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, Andheri, where she is being treated for a dislocated hip and injuries to her face. Pandit was admitted to a Pune hospital and is being treated for his injuries and Gopalakrishnan was taken to Fortis Hospital, Mulund for a bone and hip fracture.

Investigating officer Inspector Dhabade from the Bhiwandi police station said, "The injured youngsters were not in a condition to speak and so we took down the statement of only one of the three, Deepak Gopalakrishnan, who said he felt sleepy and had dozed off and when he woke up he saw the car colliding with the truck."

Dhabade added that the case was still under investigation and the statements of the other two injured would be recorded as well.