'Barricades hurled in the air, workers dragged for 200 meters, bodies in pieces': How Delhi-Mumbai Expressway incident unfolded, claiming 7 lives

NUH: Horrifying scenes unfolded on Delhi-Mumbai Expressway Saturday morning after a pickup truck cut through a group of workers cleaning the road, killing seven of them and leaving five with serious injuries, reports . Six of the victims were women, four of them from the same family.
Such was the force of the impact that it left most of the victims dismembered, with torn body parts strewn around the area. The pickup (HR-66C 6765), according to witnesses, dragged some of the victims nearly 200 metres before coming to a stop.

The truck driver, Sonu from Mohammadpur, was arrested Saturday evening. The accident happened near Ibrahim Bass village around 10am when the maintenance workers had just started cleaning the stretch.
Workers maintained e-way for 6 mths
All the seven who died were locals - Rachna (30), Pista (30), Resham (60), Satwati (30), Jaydei (50), and Prem (65) from Khedli Kalan village and Ash Mohammad (50) of Jhimrawat. The five injured are Fayyaz, Anita, Jagwati, Hemlata and Lajja. They are admitted at Nalhar Govt Hospital.
The workers, hired by a private contractor for a monthly salary of Rs 10,000, had been maintaining the expressway for the past six months. On Saturday morning, they had been assigned to clean a 200-metre stretch on the Gurgaon-Dausa side.
Like on other days, they had cordoned the area off and placed barricades on one side of the road to alert vehicles cruising across the speedway. According to witnesses, the pickup was moving at such speed that it was too late by the time the driver slammed the brakes. The plastic barricades were hurled in the air and the pickup smashed into the group standing beyond it.
Ibrahim, who was passing by, described the horrifying scenes. "Bodies lay scattered, many of them severed. There was blood all over. Everyone was shouting at the top of their voice, asking for help and ambulances," he said.
Asraf Khan, who, too, was nearby, said the workers had no time to react. "They were engaged in their work. Plus, there were barricades to alert vehicles," he said.
Mustafa, a driver who transported the workers daily, said the truck hit his vehicle too, damaging it from behind. "I was sitting inside my vehicle while the 12 workers I had brought to the site were engaged in cleaning the expressway. There was a sudden crashing sound. The truck coming from the Gurgaon side first hit my van and then ploughed into the workers," he said.
Deputy commissioner Vishram Kumar Meena promised financial assistance for the affected families. "An investigation into the ghastly accident will be conducted. We will take appropriate action after identifying the causes of the incident. We are working to prevent such accidents in the future," Meena said.
A case was registered against the unidentified driver under sections 281 (rash driving) and 106 (causing death by negligence).