Car runs over 10 kids; 5 in ICU

Ten children playing on a street in Sathe Nagar in Mankhurd were seriously injured when a 38-year-old man, who lost control of his speeding Honda City, allegedly ran them over on Wednesday.

Five children have been admitted to the intensive care unit of Sion Hospital while the rest were rushed to Shatabdi Hospital.

The driver, Prafulla Ashok Gharat, also sustained injuries and is undergoing treatment while the Mankhurd police is trying to determine whether or not he was driving in an inebriated state.

According to police officials, Gharat had left home around 12.15 pm after which his out-of-control car entered Sathe Nagar. After the car ran over the children, it smashed through a wall and finally came to a halt inside a private clinic in the area.

Speaking about the incident, PSI Sarika Jagtap of Mankhurd police station said, “We received a call from residents immediately and we reached the spot within five minutes. I called an ambulance and some of the children were taken to hospital by rickshaw. Eyewitnesses told us the accused first knocked over the children and later crashed his car into Aarti Clinic after smashing through a wall.”

She added, “The accused sustained a minor head injury so we haven’t been able to take his statement.”

The police said Gharat, a resident of Sathe Nagar, is a driver by profession. He could not control the car as he did not have experience with automatic geared vehicles, the police said.

All the injured children resided in a chawl at Sathe Nagar.

Eyewitness Vijay Bavsakar, 32, a resident of the area, said, “I was standing outside my house when I saw that a white Honda City driver driving so rashly that he could not even control the vehicle. He first ran over the children who were playing cricket and then he stopped his car in the clinic.”

The seriously injured children were identified as Vicky Govind Chauhan (10), Avinash Borade (14), Shreyas Sachin Patil (11), Sumit Chauhan, (8) and Shivappa Valmiky, (8).

Vaishali Borade, mother of Avinash Borade, sharing her grief, said, “I work as a help and my husband is a labour at a construction site. We don’t even have money to buy medicines. If the accused did not know how to drive, he should not have driven the car. We will protest if the police does not arrest him.”