Nagpur: Seven persons were killed and over 20 injured early Friday after a truck rammed into a pickup-trailer on Samruddhi Expressway at around 12.40 am in Dhamangaon tehsil on the Amravati-Wardha district border.




The open trailer bound for Wardha was chugging along at 10 km/hr speed with 30 people on board and three large Durga idols, when a truck moving towards Nagpur at just 50 km/hr hit the trailer, said police. The trucker is on the run.




Five of the injured are critical and undergoing treatment at a hospital in Wardha. Guardian minister Pankaj Bhoyar visited the survivors and instructed hospital authorities to ensure best care. Police said rescue operations were completed by 6:45 am and traffic movement on the expressway was restored.




Since its inauguration in December 2022, the Samruddhi Mahamarg witnessed a staggering 636 accidents, claiming 579 lives and leaving 649 injured till August 2026. The figures translate to a deadly toll of nearly one life lost every two days on Maharashtra’s flagship highway.




Talking to TOI, Amravati rural SP Niketan Kadam said the truck hit the pickup trailer on the rear. “As the trailer was open, many of the occupants were tossed in the air and fell on the ground with a thud. Most died of head injuries. Subsequently, the pickup van driver crashed into a side barrier, leading to a second impact, after which the trolley overturned,” he said, adding the truck did not mow down any passenger.




Maharashtra highway police SP Lohit Matani said the speeds of both vehicles, 10 km/hr and 50 km/hr, were captured by a camera, a kilometre before the crash.




The trailer, designed in the shape of a chariot and carrying huge idols of Goddess Durga, a lion and a demon, was being taken from Shegaon to Wardha. The pickup truck-trailer entered the expressway from Karanja in Washim district after being stopped once at the toll booth.




Matani said, “The entourage waited for almost two hours at the toll booth as operators denied them entry. After some people intervened, the vehicles were allowed entry into the high-speed expressway at 11am on Thursday.”




This recorded entry time means the pickup-trailer combo had been on the expressway for nearly 14 hours till it was hit at the rear. Due to their slow speed, even in those 14 hours on Samruddhi they were able to cover barely 80km.




An official said the vehicle stopped twice to prepare food at the wayside facility space near petrol pumps. At the time of the crash, it still had around 50km of travel left.




The accident raises concern over the delay in implementation of the much-awaited Rs1,700 crore Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS), aimed at monitoring traffic violations along the 701km Samruddhi Expressway. According to a senior Maharashtra Highway police officer, completion of the ITMS project has been pushed to January 2027 after the contractor missed the August deadline.