Evening walk turns fatal: 80-year-old woman crushed to death by reversing crane in Vile Parle

MUMBAI: An evening walk proved costly for an 80-year-old woman who was fatally crushed by a reversing hydraulic crane near Prime Mall in Vile Parle on Thursday. The driver, a 20-year-old, fled the scene fearing public outrage.

Constable Narendra Namdev Teli, 49, of the Juhu police station, was on patrol duty when he received an alert about the accident. Rushing to the scene, he found a yellow hydra crane parked on the road and the woman trapped beneath its rear section.

According to eyewitnesses, the crane operator was driving recklessly when he struck the woman while reversing. Upon realising the accident, he abandoned the vehicle and escaped. “I saw that her hand had detached from her shoulder, and she was bleeding profusely from the head,” said Teli. He immediately called for an ambulance and transported the woman to Cooper Hospital, just five minutes away. However, doctors declared her dead on arrival.

A search of the victim’s purse led to her identification as Beena Anil Mathure, a resident of an apartment near Shree Sai Garden in Vile Parle West. The police have informed her family about the accident.

Investigations revealed that the crane driver was Arvind Kamlesh Yadav, 20, a resident of Ram Mandir in Goregaon West. Authorities are now verifying whether Yadav possessed a valid licence to operate the heavy vehicle. “We have issued a notice to Yadav, summoning him to the police station for questioning,” a police officer stated. Further investigations are underway.