- One person died and another was injured in a Mumbai-Pune Expressway crash early Friday
- A speeding Toyota Fortuner hit an Eicher tempo inside the newly opened missing link tunnel
- The impact caused both vehicles to overturn, trapping five SUV occupants from Wakad area
One person was killed and another was injured after a speeding SUV crashed into a vehicle inside a tunnel of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway early Friday, officials said.
The accident occured around 1.20 am on the recently opened 'missing link' section of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. The incident was caught on a CCTV camera.
CCTV footage showed a speeding Toyota Fortuner travelling from Pune towards Mumbai crashing into an Eicher tempo carrying vegetables. The tempo was moving in the same direction when the SUV rammed into it from behind.
The impact was so severe that both vehicles overturned on the highway.
Officials said one person, identified as Tushar Bhumkar, died on the spot. Another sustained serious injuries, while three others escaped unhurt.
The injured person was shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment, officials said. Police have launched an investigation into the incident.
Preliminary information suggests that all five occupants of the SUV were residents of the Bhumkar Chowk area in Wakad.
The accident disrupted traffic on the 'missing link' route for nearly two hours.
Police and highway safety patrol teams rushed to the spot for the rescue operation and later restored the traffic on the highway.
The 13.3-km 'missing link' stretch includes a nearly 9-km-long twin-tube tunnel and a cable-stayed bridge. It was built to bypass the accident-prone and congested ghat section on the Expressway and reduce travel time between the two cities.
