Team Herald
CANACONA: In three separate accidents reported in Canacona on Thursday, a container truck fell onto the dry river bed after breaking the side railings of the Ordhofond bridge, a car rammed into a shop at Mashem bazaar and a liquid carbon dioxide tanker skidded off the road near Poinguinim putting vehicular traffic off gear.
However, the occupants including the drivers of all three vehicles escaped with minor scratches and bruises.
Canacona NH66 stretch has become so accident prone that it has become a common site for the locals to witness mishaps on a regular basis.
During the last three days alone Canacona stretch of NH66 saw 7 motor vehicle accidents, the owners of the ill-fated vehicles suffered huge financial losses but luckily no life was lost.
In the accident reported at about 5 am on Thursday, the driver of an empty container truck while crossing the Ordhofond Bridge lost control over his vehicle eventually breaking the weak side railings and landing on the dry river bed. If it had to fall a couple of metres ahead, the cabin would have fallen into the waters of the river and could have resulted in death of the driver.
The mishap occurred when the truck was on its way to Margao for loading onward cargo.
In the second incident, the driver of a Karnataka registered car after losing control barged into a shop located at Mashem bazaar at about 11.00am on Thursday.
And in the third accident, an empty Tamil Nadu registered tanker while negotiating a sharp turn at Zimne near Poinguinim skidded off the road at about 6 pm and landed on its side in such a way that the entire road got blocked for all types of vehicles except for two wheelers.
Sensing danger, police and fire crew rushed to the accident site and took stock of the situation and sighed relief after knowing that the tanker was empty.
Police with the help of traffic personnel diverted all the traffic from the two internal roads of Chiplem and Sadolxem.
Local MLA Isidore Fernandes and PI Sudesh Narvekar of Canacona police station were present to oversee the situation and ensured that the tanker was removed with help of a crane requisitioned from Margao by 9 pm.
While all three vehicles suffered extensive damages the driver and other occupants of the vehicles fortunately escaped unhurt.
Social activists present at the tanker accident site near Poinguinim blamed the National Highway authorities for neglecting the NH66 road stretch from Polem till Balli on the pretext that the bypass link between Charrasta to Mashem once commissioned will eradicate the congested and narrow road from Mashem till Charrasta.
Manoj Prabhugaonkar, a frontline social activist, lamented the state of the road and negligence by the authorities leading to frequent accidents losing property and life some times.
“Most of the time, road engineering is common sense and with the authorities not applying their mind and engineering the road has become death trap for the unsuspecting drivers specifically those from out of state,” complained Vishant Prabhu another frontline activist from Canacona.
