Two people helping free a truck driver trapped after an early-morning crash were killed and four others injured when another container truck struck the wreckage on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway in Rajasthan’s Kota district on Friday.
The collision occurred around 4 am opposite Paraliya Ki Jhopadiya, between the Balapura and Gopalpura toll plazas, under the limits of Kaithun police station. Police said a Tata six-tyre open-body trailer had broken down and remained parked along the expressway for two days before the incident.
According to police, a container truck travelling from the Delhi side first rammed into the stationary trailer. The impact crushed the container truck’s cabin and trapped its driver inside. Passersby and people travelling in a car and another truck stopped at the site to help remove him.
Six people were attempting the rescue when another speeding container truck hit the damaged vehicle from behind, police said. Circle Inspector Manoj Sikarwal identified the two people who died in the second collision as Jomdeen Khan, 50, from the Rajgarh police station area of Alwar district, and Sachin Gurjar, from the Kotputli police station area of Jaipur district.
The two men were declared dead after the second impact. Their bodies were handed over to their families following post-mortem examinations, according to the report. The incident has highlighted the risks faced by motorists and passersby who stop on high-speed expressways to assist people involved in crashes, particularly when damaged or disabled vehicles remain in the traffic corridor.
Four people were injured and admitted to New Medical College Hospital in Kota. They were identified as Israil, 58, from Alwar; Bablu from Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh; Zakir, 53, from Alawalpur in Haryana’s Nuh district; and Aamin, 23, from Bharatpur.
Police said Aamin was driving the container truck that initially struck the parked trailer. The vehicles involved have been identified by their registration numbers as the stationary trailer RJ-14-GN-5256, the first container truck HR-47-H-2381, the car RJ-32-GE-8607, the truck HR-55-AN-6820 and the second container truck MH-12-YB-0762.
The sequence of the crash — a disabled vehicle remaining on the expressway, a first impact, an attempted rescue and a second collision — has placed the focus on incident response and protection at crash sites on high-speed roads. The police investigation is continuing under Kaithun police station limits, while the injured remain under treatment at the Kota hospital.
