AGRA: A Delhi-based couple and their two children returning from Mahakumbh in Prayagraj — were killed in a car crash on the Lucknow-Agra Expressway under Fatehabad limits in UP’s Agra district on Monday.
Omprakash Singh, 42, a lawyer at the high court in Delhi, wife Purnima 34; daughter Ahana, 12; and son Vinayak, 4, died on the spot, police said. The family originally belonged to Motihari district in Bihar.
The accident took place around 12:30am when Omprakash lost control of the car, police added. ACP (Agra) Amar Deep said, “The family was returning from Prayagraj to their home in Delhi’s Uttam Nagar.
Preliminary investigation suggests the driver might have dozed off. The bodies have been sent for post-mortem and their family members have been informed.”
According to an eyewitness, the hatchback car first collided with a roadside divider and then overturned on the opposite lane. There, it was hit by a mini truck.
The car was severely damaged and all four died due to fatal injuries. Police from Agra’s Fatehabad reached the spot and pulled out the bodies from inside the vehicle. Cranes were later used to remove the mangled remains from the e-way.
The e-way has witnessed several major accidents in the recent past. In Nov of last year, six members of a family were killed and at least 20 people were injured when a tempo traveller rammed into a stationary canter on the e-way.
In Dec, eight people died and 19 were injured when their bus overturned after colliding with a water tanker on the same e-way in Kannauj. In both cases, primary investigations by police revealed that the driver dozed off at the wheel.
A study report compiled by the Central Road Research Institute on the 302-km long e-way mentioned that “exhausted drivers who doze off at the wheel are responsible for about 40% of road accidents”.
