Daijiworld Media Network - Bhiwandi

Bhiwandi, Jul 31: Eight members of a family from Maharashtra's Jalgaon district were injured, four of them seriously, after the Tempo Traveller they were travelling in rammed into a parked truck on the Mumbai-Nashik Highway near Sonale village in Bhiwandi taluka in the early hours of Thursday.

According to Bhiwandi Taluka police, the Sheikh family was returning to Chalisgaon after dropping two relatives at Mumbai airport for their Umrah pilgrimage when the accident occurred.

The driver of the Tempo Traveller, Tausif, told police that heavy rainfall had severely reduced visibility on the highway. He said two vehicles were moving ahead of him, and while attempting to overtake them from the left, he mistook a truck parked on the roadside for a moving vehicle. The vehicle crashed into the rear of the truck before he could react.

Local residents rushed to the spot and shifted all the injured to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Bhiwandi.

Four passengers with minor injuries were treated and discharged, while the four seriously injured received primary treatment before being shifted by their relatives to Jalgaon for further medical care.

The injured alleged that the truck had been parked on the roadside without its hazard warning lights switched on. They claimed that the absence of warning indicators, combined with poor visibility caused by heavy rain, led to the accident.

Senior Police Inspector Harshvardhan Barve of Bhiwandi Taluka police station said the injured left for their native place with relatives before their statements could be recorded.

"An FIR will be registered after recording the statements of the injured, and appropriate action will be taken against the person found responsible," Barve said.