At least 11 persons were killed and another 24 injured in two separate accidents on the Mumbai-Goa Highway in Raigad and Sindhudurg districts, here on Thursday, officials said.
In the first incident, nine persons of a family were killed instantly when their car collided with a truck which purportedly lost control around 4.45 a.m., at Repoli village near Goregaon, said Raigad Superintendent of Police Somnath S. Gharge.
"The truck was proceeding towards Mumbai and the Eco car coming from Mumbai was bound for Guhagar when the tragedy struck," said Gharge. Five men and three women, and a minor girl, perished on the spot, but a four-year-old boy had a lucky escape in the truck-car collision.
He was pulled out in a badly injured condition from the wreckage and has been rushed to the Mangaon government hospital. In the second incident, at least two passengers were killed and 23 others hurt when a private bus overturned on the highway around dawn.
The passenger bus was proceeding from Mumbai to Goa and suffered the mishap at a treacherous curve near a bridge on the Gad River, officials said. Local villagers along with rescue teams, fire brigade and police are at the two accident sites even as traffic was badly hit on both sides on this busy highway.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde expressed pain and grief over the loss of lives and offered condolences to the bereaved families. According to preliminary reports, in the Raigad crash, the speeding truck driver reportedly lost control and crashed into the Eco car coming in from the opposite direction resulting in the disaster.
Later, Gharge said that the highway was cleared of the vehicle wreckage and traffic had resumed as normal in both directions. The work of identifying the victims and informing their families is currently on and the exact causes of the two accidents are being investigated, local officials said.