Five people, including four members of a family and a driver, died and four others were injured when their Innova car was hit by a speeding dumper on the National Highway 24 in East Delhi’s Kalyanpuri at 3:55am on Wednesday, police said.
“Nine occupants of the Innova car — all natives of Meerut — were returning from the Delhi Airport after picking up their relatives returning from Iran when their car was hit by a speeding dumper moving on the other side of the road.
“The driver was heading towards the Ghazipur landfill. The driver, suspected to have dozed off while driving the heavy vehicle carrying debris crossed the divider and hit and smashed their car. After being hit, the car turned thrice. The driver managed to flee from the spot, leaving behind the dumper,” said a senior police official.
Eyewitnesses told The Pioneer that they heard a loud sound.
“At first, we thought that it were machines (as construction work is going on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway). However, within a few minutes, large number of people gathered on the road and we saw four to five people lying badly hurt in the car.
“One of the passersby made a call to the Police Control Room. Police reached half an hour later. Even when police came, instead of helping the injured people who were stuck in the mangled car, police rushed the dead to the hospital.”
While the male members of the two families were seated in the front and the second row, the children were seated at the back, said eyewitnesses.
As the dumper crushed the roof of the SUV car, 55-year-old Qamar Abbas Zaidi, his 50-year-old wife Anjum Fathima Zaidi, his 18-year-old son Azhar Abbas Zaidi and 14-year-old daughter Juhi were crushed, along with their 36-year-old driver Mirajuddin. The injured included Anjum Fathima, wife of Kalbe Abbas, her son Ali Abbas, Abbas Mehdi, 16-year-old son of Qamar and seven-year-old daughter of Qamar’s brother. Doctors of Guru Teg Bahadur hospital told police that Anjum is stated to be critical, with severe head injuries while the other three were discharged later in on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, relatives gathered at the mortuary of the lal Bahadur Shastri hospital and said, “The Zaidi family had left Meeraut at 10 pm on Tuesday as they had to pick up Anjum and her son who were coming from Iran,” said Anjum’s sister.
Ravindra Yadav, Joint Commissioner of Police (Eastern Range), said, “We have registered a case under section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) at the Kalyanpuri police station.”
Investigators said since the errant dumper had a sticker of the MCD, they are verifying whether it belonged to the civic agency. “We are trying to identify the driver. So far, we have identified the owner of the dumper. Arrests will be made soon.”