Eight dead as car crushed between two container trucks on Mumbai–Bengaluru highway

Eight people were killed and 14 others injured on Thursday evening when a car was crushed between two large container trucks, triggering a massive fire on the accident-prone Navale Bridge stretch of the Mumbai–Bengaluru highway near Pune.

According to police, the chain collision occurred after the driver of a container truck travelling towards Mumbai reportedly lost control of the vehicle, possibly due to brake failure. The out-of-control truck struck several vehicles, including a minibus, before crashing into another container truck ahead. A car caught between the two heavy vehicles was mangled in the impact.

Deputy commissioner of police Sambhaji Kadam said the collision appeared to have caused the car’s CNG kit to explode, setting all three vehicles ablaze. “The impact triggered a huge fire and the three vehicles were engulfed,” he said, adding that most of the injured were passengers from the minibus.

Pune police commissioner Amitesh Kumar, who visited the site, confirmed that the fire was a result of the severe collision.

The blaze prompted a major emergency response, with eight fire tenders and tankers rushed to the scene. Chief fire officer Devendra Potphode of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) said firefighters arrived to find the car trapped between the trucks and engulfed in flames.

“The fire was extinguished and charred bodies were recovered from the car and one of the trucks,” he said.

PMC officials, including municipal commissioner Naval Kishore Ram, deployed disaster management teams, ambulances, cranes and JCB machines as part of the rescue and relief effort. The injured were taken to nearby hospitals.

Traffic on the Bengaluru–Mumbai carriageway was halted as authorities worked to remove the gutted vehicles and clear the highway.

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis described the incident as “tragic and painful” and announced Rs 5 lakh ex-gratia for the families of those killed.

The deceased in the car were identified as Swati Santosh Navalkar (37), Shanta Dattatray Dabhade (54) and Dattatray Chandrakant Dabhade (58), all residents of Dhayari in Pune; three-year-old Mokshita Reddy of Chikhli in Pimpri Chinchwad; and Dhananjay Koli (30) of Kolhapur.

Another victim, Rohit Kadam (25) from Satara, also died in the crash. The identities of two others, whose bodies were recovered from a container truck, remain to be established.

With agency inputs