Gujarat road accidents killed at least 11 people, including a police sub-inspector, a Gram Rakshak Dal jawan and three youths returning from Navratri celebrations, in separate crashes across Bharuch, Gandhinagar and Banaskantha districts on Monday night and Tuesday.
In Bharuch, police sub-inspector Yash Patel, 27, and his friends Parth Patel, 27, and Asfak Momin, 28, died after their car collided with a tempo on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway near Manubar village. The car overturned and was extensively damaged after the initial collision, with another vehicle reportedly hitting it soon afterwards.
Police said the three men were travelling to Bharuch to meet another friend. The tempo driver allegedly abandoned the vehicle and fled. Taluka police sent the bodies for postmortem examinations and began an investigation into the sequence of collisions.
In Gandhinagar district, three people died and another was critically injured after a car carrying four youths overturned near Maharaja Hotel on SG Highway under Adalaj police station. The occupants were reportedly returning after playing garba through the night when the driver lost control. The car allegedly hit a divider before overturning and crashing into a tree.
The deceased were identified as Dhrolvirsinh Rana, a resident of Vastral in Ahmedabad; Aastha Rathod, originally from Rajkot and residing at Ambawadi Girls’ Hostel in Ahmedabad; and Vaishvi Sheth, a resident of Bodakdev. Rathod was pursuing her final year of an MBBS course at a medical college in Ahmedabad. Sheth died while undergoing treatment at a hospital near Vaishnodevi Circle. The fourth occupant, identified only as Smit, was admitted to Jivraj Mehta Hospital in critical condition. Adalaj police launched an investigation.
Banaskantha recorded five deaths in two separate crashes. Near Badarpura crossroads on the Palanpur-Deesa highway, an unidentified vehicle rammed an autorickshaw, killing driver Shravan Majira, 24, and passengers Chehara Malupura, 66, and his wife, Lasu, 62. The couple were residents of Sandia village and were returning to Deesa after Chehara underwent dialysis at Palanpur Civil Hospital, said KM Vasava, sub-inspector at Gadh police station. The vehicle and its driver had not been identified, and police began a search.
In another Banaskantha crash, two friends were killed when an unidentified vehicle hit their motorcycle near a cement factory on the Amirgadh-Abu Road highway late Monday night. The victims were Govind Chauhan, 30, a GRD jawan from Dholiya village, and Pavan Kharadi, 23, from Ambapani village, both in Amirgadh taluka. “We have launched an investigation to identify the vehicle and its driver,” said BD Gohil, inspector at Amirgadh police station.
