Tanker hits 7 vehicles at Chimbel junction, one dead, eight injured

Panaji: A two-wheeler rider was killed and eight persons injured after a chemical tanker plowed through seven vehicles at Chimbel junction on the Panaji-Old Goa National Highway (NH) 4B on Thursday morning. The driver of the tanker lost control of the vehicle after its brakes failed, police said.
This is the second accident involving a speeding heavy vehicle at the junction, within a span of three days.
The residents of Chimbel blocked the national highway for nearly 30 minutes after the crash in protest of the string of road accidents that have occurred on the stretch recently.
Akshay Karmalkar, 25, a resident of Karmail, lost his life in the crash. Old Goa police have arrested UP native Dinanath Morya, the driver of the tanker.
Police officials said that the accident occurred at around 11.30am.
The accident occurred when the chemical tanker was proceeding towards Panaji from Old Goa, the driver noticed he could not apply the brakes. He began slamming on the brakes and lost control of the tanker at the Chimbel junction.
Even before other road-users could understand what was happening, the tanker mowed down seven vehicles on the highway— two wheelers, four wheelers and six wheelers— all within a distance of 50m, leaving in its wake a mangled mess of glass and automobile parts.
The tanker first crashed into Karmalkar’s two-wheeler, and then hit a rickshaw, a four-wheeler, a water tanker, another four-wheeler and the two other two-wheelers before coming to a stop in a ditch off the road.
Altogether ,12 people were involved in the accident, police said. Three have been admitted to Goa Medical College (GMC) and hospital at Bambolim and two others have been discharged after treatment.
Immediately after the accident, locals gathered at the spot to help in the rescue operation.
After the rescues were complete, and the injured taken to hospital, Chimbel residents along with members of the zilla panchayat and village panchayats blocked the highway for nearly 30 minutes. ZP Member Sandeep Vernekar said the stretch had become unsafe and prone to accidents for the past seven years, since the government took up work to widen the road.
The locals insisted that traffic police personnel should be deployed to man traffic at the perilious junction, and also demanded that police install a traffic signal, speed breakers, sign boards warning of an accident-prone zone and displaying speed limits. Only after deputy superintendent of police Utam Raut Desai assured that their demands would be fulfilled, the protestors allowed traffic flow to resume.
“We have given the police 15 days to fulfill these demands, or else we will again block the national highway again,” warned Vernekar.
Later in the day, deputy collector Vivek H P met with a group of residents of Chimbel and said that he has asked officials of PWD, RTO, police, NH and PWD to inspect the Chimbel junction and submit a report today, so that corrective steps can be taken to avoid such accidents in the future.