Two killed, six injured in 10-vehicle accident in expressway in Greater Noida

Two people were killed and six were injured after ten vehicles piled up on the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) in a chain reaction accident during dense fog, police officers aware of the matter said. The incident occurred near Atta Gujran village in Greater Noida’s Dankaur in the early hours of Sunday.

“The pile-up occurred around 1am when the driver of a truck heading from Palwal to Noida swerved to avoid hitting two trucks in front of him that had crashed into each other. The truck careened across the road and rammed into the divider,” said a spokesperson for the Greater Noida police.

“When the driver stepped out of his truck to inspect the damage, another truck coming at high speed rammed into his from behind. He was crushed to death. He was identified as Murli, 32, known only by his first name, a resident of Haryana’s Nuh. His co-passenger, Praveen, 25, known by his first name only, was injured,” the spokesperson added.

The massive pile-up developed within an hour when four trucks and two cars slammed into one another behind the truck.

The police received information on the emergency helpline number after which several teams arrived on the scene and blocked the expressway for an hour until the injured people were rescued. “Visibility on EPE was less than 20 metres. We somehow managed to rescue the injured and clear EPE by the morning,” said Sanjay Kumar Singh, station house officer of the Dankaur police station.

“The injured have been identified by their first names as Ramlavat, 60, a resident of Jaunpur, Kallu, 32, a resident of Shahjahanpur, and Ashok, 40, Bhupendra, 30, and Ashok, 45, residents of Bulandshahr,” added SHO Singh.

Around 5am, when the police were removing battered vehicles from the scene, a speeding truck rammed into a stationary vehicle and the driver, Jitendra Singh, 45, a resident of Aligarh, was killed after receiving severe injuries.

On Sunday, the Noida Traffic Police issued an advisory about travelling during dense fog. The advisory said, “Do not speed, follow lane driving, use fog lights, use low-beam headlights, turn on defogger, and maintain distance from another vehicle.”

On December 27, as many as 12 vehicles piled up in an accident on the Yamuna Expressway due to dense fog; however, no one was injured in the accident.

According to the Noida traffic police, 470 people were killed and 858 injured in 1,176 road accidents in 2023.