re: Accidents in India | Pics & Videos Quote:
On 24th, a Swift from near my wife's place in Kollam went under a tanker carrying LPG cylinders, killing 3 and seriously injuring the 4th occupant. They were going to Cochin to visit an ailing relative (the husband of one of the occupants who died).
Pic of the Swift and lorry from the Manorama newspaper. You have no chance when you ram a car into the front of a lorry at speed.
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Unfortunately, I had the misfortune to see that ghastly accident unfold infront me and my family. On that day, we had chosen to drive down to Kochi from Trivandrum and the decision was to leave as early as possible with us starting at around 4:30 am. I kept a steady pace of around 80km/ hour though often had those morons who used to jaywalk into the national highway.
A few kilometers prior to that accident spot, the particular swift, a black color one with swift decals on its boot drove into the NH from an intersection. The reason I had taken note of the car was since I was weary of such cases where someone would just cut track and jump onto the highway.
Interestingly, this swift took a careful entry into the highway but shortly after, I could see that the vehicle was rocketing forward closely following the right most path overtaking all the vehicles as though leaving a contingency space for a third row overtake. I was quite certain that sprint was probably at speeds north of 110 km/ hour.
In a few minutes from then, we reach an open stretch and there was just a truck separating my car and this vehicle though the swift was quite ahead. In a bid to overtake the truck, I move to the right lane and then the most gruesome scenes unfold in front of me.
In a matter of seconds, I could see another truck on the opposite track, possibly with its right signal blinking (I guess the truck driver was planning to cut across the highway), I could see the dilemma of the swift driver (if the truck would cut across or would it wait), I could see the swift driver trying the emergency brakes with smoke billowing out of all four wheels, I could hear the screeching sound of the brakes and rubber on tarmac and the helpless effort of man against inertia and finally the sickening sound of metal against metal. It was a straight head-on....and then the truck dragged the swift pushing it to the left lane right next to my left side ploughing through milestones and I could see sparks from metal digging into the tarmac.
In that split moment while trying to push my car to the right most lane and safety, I had a glimpse of what I would prefer to forget for ever. The truck had crushed the engine compartment and was still pushing the swift forward. The whole compartment had crumbled and collapsed onto the front driver and all I could see was his head tilted and resting on the b-pillar.. Honestly my senses shutdown for a few seconds post the gruesome scenes and I stopped the vehicle a few meters ahead. I could see people from nearby factory running towards the accident scene.
The trauma of having witnessed the accident was quite intense and unrelenting and had a tough time driving further.
Read the news later the next day that the person and his family was driving to meet someone at the hospital. RIP to the family that perished! |