Overview
- A pickup carrying about 46 labourers, which crashed late Wednesday near Chikhliya Phata on the Indore–Ahmedabad highway, left 16 dead and 21 injured, with several sent to Indore’s MY Hospital.
- Police said the van hit the divider, overturned several times, and struck an SUV, and they cited overspeeding as the immediate trigger.
- Investigators found missing advance warning signs and stop signals, wide unregulated median cuts, faded lane markings, no cat-eye reflectors, and dividers without reflectors at the site.
- An NHAI team inspected the location, and police will file the findings with the agency while also examining the van’s condition and possible overloading.
- The losses fell heavily on single families, with eight members of the Dabar family among the dead, as the Prime Minister offered Rs 2 lakh to next of kin and Rs 50,000 for the injured and the state announced Rs 4 lakh per death, Rs 1 lakh for the seriously hurt, and Rs 50,000 for others.