Three killed in truck-moped accident at Babargaon Phata on Gangapur road in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Two devotees on their way to Shirdi were crushed to death and a truck driver was killed after his vehicle overturned in a violent collision near Babargaon Phata, on the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar-Gangapur Road on Saturday morning.The deceased have been identified as Mahadev Ghule (30) and Meera Pandav (25) from Jalna, and truck driver Rajkumar Devendra Appa (46) from Karnataka.The police said the accident took place around 10am when Ghule and Pandav were riding a moped towards Shirdi for darshan, while a truck was heading in the opposite direction towards Karnataka. “In an attempt to avoid a collision, the truck driver swerved. However, the moped came under the rear wheels of the heavy vehicle,” officials said.Ghule died on the spot, while Pandav suffered critical injuries. She was initially treated at the Gangapur sub-district hospital by Dr Pawan Mundada before being shifted to the Government Medical College and Hospital in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, where she succumbed during treatment.The crash also caused the truck to overturn, trapping driver Appa inside the mangled cabin. Local residents and passersby tried to rescue him.

Despite being pulled out, he died shortly afterwards.Ambulance personnel Shubham Waghmare and Sagar Shejul shifted the injured to hospital. The accident triggered panic on the busy stretch, disrupting traffic for some time until the Gangapur police reached the spot, cleared the road and carried out a panchanama.Bodies of the deceased were sent for postmortem, and the police have started investigations to establish the exact sequence of events.“Further inquiries into the accident are underway,” the police said, adding that the driver’s body will be handed over to his family after they arrive from Karnataka.