Four members of a family, driver killed after dumper truck rams Innova in Delhi

At least five people, including four members of a family, were killed and four others injured after the multi-purpose vehicle they were travelling in was rammed by a truck in east Delhi's Kalyanpuri area early on Wednesday, police said.

The Innova was carrying eight members of a family belonging to Meerut in Uttar Pradesh. They were returning to their home from the Delhi airport after receiving a relative who was arriving from Iran, police said.

 

As the Innova was passing through Kalyanpuri on National Highway 24 around 3am, a dumper truck travelling on the opposite carriageway broke through the road divider and rammed into the Innova.

The Innova overturned at least thrice because of the impact before coming to a halt. The truck too overturned but the driver managed to escape before he could be caught.

"It is possible the driver fell asleep. He escaped from the accident spot,



but we hope to nab him soon," deputy commissioner of police (east) Omvir Singh said.

By the time the occupants could be pulled out of the mangled remains of the Innova, five of them had already died. The rest were rushed to a nearby hospital where at least one of them is in a critical condition.

The dead have been identified as 55-year-old Qamar Abbas Zaidi, his wife Anjum Fathima Zaidi, 50, son Azhar Abbas Zaidi, 18, daughter Juhi Fathima, 14, and the 33-year-old driver Mehraj. Among the injured are three children, including Zaidi's 13-year-old son Abbas, and a woman, the DCP said.

 

Relatives of the five persons at Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital in New Delhi. (Sushil Kumar / HT Photo)

The police said they were in a process of registering a case and have formed a team to identify and nab the errant truck driver and establish the exact sequence of events leading to the accident.