A car was crushed between two container trucks on Navale Bridge, sparking a massive fire that killed eight people and injured fourteen.
Police suspect brake failure and a possible CNG kit explosion intensified the blaze, engulfing three vehicles.
Rescue teams, fire tenders and officials rushed to the scene, as Maharashtra CM announced ₹5 lakh ex-gratia for the victims’ families.
On the Mumbai-Bengaluru highway on Thursday night, a car was crushed between two container trucks, and a massive fire engulfed all three cars, resulting in eight fatalities and fourteen injuries, according to authorities.
The horrifying multi-vehicle catastrophe happened on the accident-prone Navale Bridge.
Authorities believed that the car's CNG kit detonated after the collision, causing the fire.
"As per preliminary information, a heavy container truck was going towards Mumbai. Its driver lost control due to a suspected brake failure on the bridge, and it hit a few vehicles in its way including a mini-bus before ramming into another big container in front. A car was caught between these two trucks and got crushed badly," Deputy Commissioner of Police Sambhaji Kadam said.
The impact triggered a huge fire and the three vehicles got engulfed in it, he said.
Most of the injured were travelling in the minibus.
Pune police commissioner Amitesh Kumar, who visited the spot, said, "The fire erupted due to the impact of the collision." Traffic on the Bengaluru-Mumbai carriageway of the highway was stopped and the work of removing the gutted vehicles was underway.
Eight fire tenders and tankers were rushed to the spot, a fire brigade official said.
"When our personnel reached the spot, they found that a car was trapped between two big container trucks and a huge fire had erupted. The fire was doused. Charred bodies were retrieved from a truck and the car," said Devendra Potphode, Chief Fire Officer, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).
Municipal commissioner Naval Kishore Ram said the disaster management, fire department and medical teams of the PMC rushed to the site and conducted the rescue and relief operations.
"Ambulances, cranes and JCBs were deployed and the injured were shifted to hospitals," he said.
Devendra Fadnavis, the chief minister of Maharashtra, described the disaster as "tragic and painful" in a statement and said that the deceased's next of kin would receive Rs 5 lakh ex-gratia.
Mokshita Reddy (3), a resident of Chikhli in Pimpri Chinchwad; Dhananjay Koli (30), a resident of Kolhapur; and Swati Santosh Navalkar (37), Shanta Dattatray Dabhade (54), and Dattatray Chandrakant Dabhade (58), all inhabitants of Dhayari in Pune, were identified as the deceased in the automobile.
Rohit Kadam, a 25-year-old Satara resident, was another deceased. Two more people had their bodies found in a cargo truck, but their identities were still unknown.
