Truck that killed 8 of family on EPE identified, search on for driver: Noida Police

The truck which had hit a car on the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) on Sunday night, leading to the death of eight people, has been identified and efforts are on to arrest its driver, police said.

Thirteen members of a family, who were travelling in a Maruti Eeco, were returning to Bulandshahr after attending a wedding in Haryana's Ballabgarh. Their car was hit by a "heavy vehicle" near the Sirsa toll plaza on the EPE around 9 pm, they said on Wednesday.

Five members of the family, including women and children, had died the same night while three others succumbed to injuries during treatment at hospital.

 

Superintendent of Police, Greater Noida, Ranvijay Singh said, "The erring truck has been identified using footage on Sirsa toll plaza and other subsequent toll plazas in the region."

"Multiple teams have been formed to track down the truck and its driver so that suitable action could be taken against him," Singh said.

He said Noida Police will also be writing to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the government to equip the EPE with CCTV camera and other necessary arrangements be also made.

"We will be writing soon to the agencies concerned to have better arrangements made on the crucial stretches along the EPE and other highways here," Singh said.

Those deceased in the Sunday night incident have been identified as Shamsheera, 60, Bhoori, 30, Rihanna, 18, Aasim, 48, Sabir, 23, and Asha, 6, the police said.

The injured include Shabnam, 38, Musharraf, 19, Rehan, 16, Farhan, 8, Midra, 8, and Rubiyan, 5, the police said.

An FIR has been registered under Indian Penal Code sections 279 (rash driving), 427 (mischief), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 304A (causing death by negligence), they added.

The Eastern Peripheral Expressway or Kundli-Ghaziabad-Palwal Expressway or the National Expressway II is a 135-km-long, six-lane expressway connection Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh.