One dead, two injured in tyre burst mishap on Expressway

The New Year was off to a bad start as the mid-week saw three accidents on Palm Beach road in Navi Mumbai and one on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.

One man lost his life in the Expressway accident and no casualties were reported in the Palm Beach Road accidents. According to the Talegaon police, an Etios, driven by one V T Gopal, a Ghodbandar resident, collided with another car coming from the opposite direction around 7.25 am on the Expressway yesterday.

Fatal: The Scorpio that was involved in a minor accident at Palm Beach Road yesterday at the Nerul police station

Gopal was driving towards Pune in his car when one of the front tyres burst resulting in the car veering on to the divider, toppling over, and colliding with a Santro that was headed towards Mumbai.

"As per primary information, both the cars were at high speed," said the Talegaon police. "The collision left Gopal and the passengers of the Santro, identified as Naresh Kohli and Dipti Kohli, seriously injured. We rushed the trio to the Nigdi hospital where Gopal was declared brought dead. The others are still critical," they added.

Meanwhile, in Navi Mumbai, three accidents occurred on the Palm Beach road. However, no one was grievously injured. Around 10.20 am yesterday, an Innova turned turtle when its driver tried to avoid a collision with a vehicle which took a sudden right turn.

The driver of the Innova, identified as Ashok Gaud, was going to Belapur from Vashi. He applied sudden brakes after he saw a speeding vehicle taking a sudden right turn near Agri-Koli bhavan.

"Although the vehicle turned turtle, Gaud sustained minor injuries and the car did not sustain much damage. We let him go after registering a case of accident," said a police sub inspector from the Nerul police station.

In another incident, two cars, travelling in the same direction on Palm Beach road towards Vashi, grazed each other. According to Nerul police, two vehicles - Swift Dezire and a Scorpio - were on adjacent lanes when both vehicles collided. However, no injury was reported and the drivers of both vehicles were allowed to go after a case of minor accident was registered.

Another minor accident occurred on the same road when a Honda City was struck by an Indigo from behind around 2.30 pm yesterday. The driver of the Indigo fled the scene after the accident, said the Nerul police.u00a0