Six people died after an ethanol-laden truck overturned and caused a chain-reaction collision early Monday on the Mumbai-Nagpur Samrudhi Expressway near Wardha, police said.
The deceased have been identified as a family of 3 from Wardha – Rajesh Anandrao Table (50), Sushma Rajesh Table (45) and Janhavi Rajesh Table (16) – and their driver Ankush Raut (31), as well as Sanjay Kumar (35) and Smarjit Pal (22), both passengers in the truck.
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A senior police officer said that the truck loaded with ethanol overturned on the Mumbai-bound road after the driver lost control of it. Traffic continued on one lane while emergency teams were able to manage the situation, when a truck collided with a car carrying the family and its driver, which had stopped near the site. The collision led to a massive fire that engulfed both cars. Police said the accident brought traffic to a halt on the busy highway.
Police said teams from Highway Safety Patrol (HSP), local police, firefighters and Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) began rescue operations. Officials said the highly flammable fuel had to be drained before the container could be moved.
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The motorway recorded 185 accidents in 2025, a 35% increase on the 137 accidents reported in 2024, highway police data shows.
