Dense fog triggers multiple road crashes across UP, 25 killed and 59 injured

Lucknow, Dec 16 (PTI) At least 25 people were killed and 59 injured in a series of fog-linked road accidents across Uttar Pradesh, with the worst tragedy unfolding on the Yamuna Expressway in Mathura, where a multi-vehicle pile-up turned into an inferno, police said on Tuesday.

The maximum number of 13 fatalities was reported from Mathura, while four people each were killed in Basti and Unnao and two each in Meerut and Barabanki. According to officials, all the incidents were linked to poor visibility.

President Droupadi Murmu condoled the loss of lives and injuries in the Mathura incident, in which 13 people were burnt to death and 43 sustained injuries, when several vehicles collided in dense fog on the Yamuna Expressway in the early hours of Tuesday. The accident occurred around 4:30 am on the Agra-to-Noida carriageway within the Baldev police station limits.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Shlok Kumar said eight buses and three smaller vehicles were involved in the pile-up due to poor visibility. "The vehicles collided due to low visibility. Some of those caught fire. All the injured were sent to hospitals," he said.

Baldev SHO Ranjana Sachan said all the 13 deceased died of burns. Three of them were identified as Akhilendra Pratap Yadav (44) from Prayagraj, Rampal (75) from Maharajganj district and Sultan Ahmed (62) from Gonda.

Visuals from the spot showed the charred remains of the buses and cars. Cranes were pressed into service to clear the wreckage. Kumar said DNA samples have been collected from the charred bodies to help establish identities.

"We have identified three deceased passengers and are contacting their relatives," he said.

District Magistrate Chandra Prakash Singh said arrangements are being made for the last rites of the deceased who have been identified, while the injured are being treated. A four-member committee headed by Additional District Magistrate (Administration) Amresh Kumar has been formed to probe the incident and submit a report within two days.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Radha Vallabh said two teams of doctors were deployed for the post-mortem examinations and DNA sampling, adding that 17 body bags were sent for autopsies. Some critically-injured people were referred to the SN Medical College in Agra and others to hospitals in Delhi.

By noon, 43 injured -- 10 women and 33 men -- were admitted to the Joint District Hospital in Vrindavan.

An injured passenger told reporters that he was travelling to Delhi on a bus. "It was fog. Many people have died," he said, lying on a hospital stretcher.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed grief over the loss of lives and announced an assistance of Rs 2 lakh each to the families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 each to the injured.

In Barabanki district, two people were killed and three injured when a speeding Maruti Ertiga rammed into a Mahindra Scorpio amid dense fog on the Purvanchal Expressway, near Sariyan village in the Haidergarh Kotwali area, police said.

Babloo (35) from Bihar's Chapra district and Deepak Kumar (36) from Azamgarh died in the crash. The injured -- Mohammad Tahir (55), Asif (22) and Kamruddin Ansari (64) -- all residents of Azamgarh, were admitted to a hospital. Police said poor visibility led to the collision while the Ertiga was attempting to overtake another vehicle.

In Basti district, four people were killed and 11 seriously injured late on Monday evening, when a bus carrying Urs pilgrims collided head-on with a truck on the Basti-Lumbini road near the Hardiya intersection, police said.

Basti Range Deputy Inspector General of Police Sanjeev Tyagi said the bus was carrying around 60 pilgrims from Sant Kabir Nagar to Ajmer Sharif. Two passengers, Abdullah (60) and Mukhtar Ali (75), bus driver Sandeep Pandey (32) -- all from Basti -- and truck driver Shiv Raj Singh from Siddharthnagar district were killed. Three critically-injured passengers were referred to the Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College in Gorakhpur.

In another accident linked to fog, four people died in Unnao district on Tuesday morning when their sports utility vehicle (SUV) rammed into a road divider after a tyre burst on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway. The accident occurred around 6 am near the expressway airstrip.

The victims, identified as salt traders from Ghaziabad, included Ashok Agarwal (57), Akash Agarwal (35) and Abhinav Agarwal (20), all residents of Modinagar. Efforts are on to identify the fourth deceased.

In Meerut, two persons, including a policeman, died and as many were injured when their car fell off a bridge and plunged into the Hindon river late on Monday night amid fog. SHO of the Jani police station Akhilesh Kumar Mishra said the deceased were identified as Head Constable Rahul Kumar (35), a resident of Bulandshahr district, and Azruddin (32) from Baghpat district.

Police, administration and highway authorities have urged motorists to exercise extreme caution amid continuing foggy conditions across the state. PTI COR NAV KIS RC