Overview

• Shortly after midnight on July 22, a truck traveling from Navi Mumbai to Gujarat lost control on Ghodbunder Road’s Patlipada Bridge and hit the central divider and a street light pole
• Driver Vinod (42) and helper Rahim Pathan (25) were trapped in the mangled cabin and, despite a 45-minute hydraulic rescue, were declared dead at a Thane government hospital
• The collision scattered nearly eight tonnes of iron rods and pipes across both lanes and caused an oil spill that took rescue teams almost three hours to clear
• Traffic police, the Thane Municipal Corporation’s disaster management cell and the fire brigade coordinated extrusion of the victims and removal of debris
• A formal probe has been launched into potential fatigue, mechanical failure and infrastructure shortcomings in a wider inquiry into persistent road safety lapses