Pune: Three persons, including a minor girl, were killed and six others were injured after their car rammed into a tree on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway on Wednesday at around 6 am. The accident took place near Bhatan tunnel in Panvel, Raigad.

The deceased have been identified as Ruksana Shahabuddin Shaikh (30), Laljima Moiuddin Mujawar (55), Aliyana Shahabuddin Shaikh (9). Guddu Akbar Mujawar (60), Sultan Mohamuddin Mujawar (20), Sohail Hamid Mujawar (7) and Shoaib Altaf Sayyed (7) were injured in the road accident.

According to the sources, Javed Younis Shaikh, the driver of the Versa car was taking his eight relatives to Mumbai for family work from Pune. Mr Shaikh tried to pull over to one side of the road to let another car overtake him as the driver was honking repeatedly. However, he lost control and rammed the car into the tree near Bhatani tunnel in Panvel.

S.M. Madale, police sub-inspector, Rasayani police station, said, “We received a call, and we immediately reached the spot. Nine people including the driver were injured. We immediately took them to MGM Hospital in Navi Mumbai. Two women were declared dead while a nine-year-old girl died during treatment at the hospital. Six people are wounded and are receiving treatment. An FIR will be lodged after they recover.”

Traffic jam

In another accident, a container capsized near Amrutanjan Bridge causing a traffic jam for 2-3 hours. At 8 am, the container turned over under Amrutanjan Bridge, blocking traffic on heavy vehicle lane. The traffic police had to directed heavy vehicles to light vehicles lane to reduce the traffic. Police also diverted traffic from Expressway to Old Pune-Mumbai Highway via Valvan, due to which, the traffic jam was also witnessed in Lonavala and Khandala.