Lucky escape for occupants of 5 vehicles in Barcem mishap
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
CANACONA, MAY 24
Occupants in five cars had a lucky escape in a road mishap involving a tipper truck and four cars at Barcem-Padi in Canacona on Monday evening.
Highway traffic along the NH-17 came to standstill for over two hours, as many vehicles were seen lined up on either directions, before Cuncolim police could arrive at the accident site and help discipline the traffic to flow freely as late as 5 pm.
No occupants, including drivers of all these vehicles, suffered any injuries and are reportedly safe.
According to sources, a tipper truck reportedly engaged at the ongoing hot-mixing road works at Agonda was racing towards the Balli hot-mixing plant. When it crossed the narrow culvert bridge at the foot of Karmalghat on Padi side, the truck veered towards the narrow road ahead after it saw vehicles racing in the opposite direction.
Sources said while one Tata Sumo applied brakes to avoid hitting oncoming truck, two closely following vehicles, Versa and a Tata Sumo also jammed brakes.
In the impact, Versa car (GA-03-C-1000) was sandwiched between the two Tata Sumo vehicles with the second Sumo (GA-02-C-8027) hitting hard on its back, while Versa going on to hit first Sumo (GA-02-J-4321).
However, the truck zoomed passed but not before brushing badly against the third Sumo (GA-02 C-8027) which eventually suffered major damages.
In the impact, one of the front wheels of second Sumo vehicle got snapped and came under the wheels of Versa car, wheel other tyres got burst.
Soon, vehicles began to line-up on either sides and even though there was sufficient space for vehicles to cross over, in the absence of any traffic discipline, vehicles in an attempt to outsmart others, completely blocked the highway.
The position continued for at least two hours before Cuncolim police reached the site and helped to clear the blockade.
