Six injured in 12-vehicle pileup on Greater Noida bypass in morning fog

Six people were injured on Tuesday morning after more than 12 vehicles, including trucks, cars, and motorcycles tail-ended one another to cause a pileup on the Greater Noida’s Dadri bypass in the dense morning fog, said police, adding that the pileup occurred when a mini truck was negotiating a turn.

Injured Sumit Singh’s uncle Mandeep Singh said, “On Tuesday around 9am, Sumit (25) and his older brother Akash, 35, a resident of Khurja in Bulandshahr, were heading towards Delhi, when Akash, who was riding the motorcycle, spotted that a truck had stopped in the middle of the highway. As he applied the brakes, another speeding car rammed their bike from behind and Akash sustained multiple injuries, including a fracture. Sumit sustained five stitches on the head as his helmet broke in the impact of the crash.”

According to India Meteorological Department, the visibility was less than 100 metres, and Noida recorded a minimum temperature of 5.7 degrees Celsius and a maximum temperature of 14.8 degrees.

“Sumit somehow managed to alert us on call and we rushed to the spot. We found that there was no space in the ambulance, so we rushed them to a nearby hospital by a private vehicle from where doctors referred Akash to Delhi,” said Mandeep Singh.

Another injured Kailash Prashant, a resident of Bulandshahr, narrowly escaped the crash. He said, “I, along with my wife and son, was going to a relative’s home in Delhi when we spotted that a truck had stopped on the bypass in Dadri. I managed to control my car, but another speeding truck coming from behind hit our car and our car got stuck between two trucks,” said Prashant, adding that his wife and son escaped injuries, but he sustained one from the broken glass window.

Deshraj Kumar, a resident of Jarcha, was in shock when he received a panic call from his son Saurabh, who informed him that he sustained major injuries to his leg after a bike rammed his bike. “My son was heading towards his office in Noida on his bike when another biker rammed into him from behind.”

Police said more than 12 vehicles, including trucks, four to five cars and bikes piled up between 8.30am and 9.30am. “When a canter truck was negotiating a turn to get on the wrong lane, another speeding truck rammed that truck. However, the driver of the following truck spotted the accident and managed to stop but a car tail-ended his truck and a pileup ensued,” said Greater Noida, assistant commissioner of police, Sarthak Senghar, adding that the truck driver, who was negotiating a truck, managed to escape, leaving his vehicle behind.

The other injured have been identified as Apurva Parmar and Keshav Singh, residents of Bulandshahr.

In Greater Noida’s Jarcha, a car rammed a truck after two trucks collided head-on in the dense fog on Tuesday morning. No injuries were reported, said police.

Notably, this is the third pile-up to be reported within a month in Gautam Budh Nagar.

In the first accident, on December 27, as many as 12 vehicles piled up in an accident on Yamuna Expressway early the morning due to dense fog, said officials, adding that no casualties or injuries resulted out of the crash.

In the second, two truck drivers died while four people sustained injuries after multiple vehicles piled up due to dense fog on the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) under the jurisdiction of the Dadri police station in Greater Noida on January 14 around 1am.

Noida, traffic police urged people to drive slow and use hazard lights during dense fog conditions.