Navi Mumbai: A newly married couple returning to their Mumbai Central home with family from a Goa trip ended in tragedy. The bride, the groom’s mother, his cousin, and the family driver died in an SUV crash along the Mumbai-Goa highway. Allegedly speeding along at 140 kmph, the SUV crashed into the rear of a dumper truck parked on the extreme left lane of the highway near Shanti Nagar at Lanja, Ratnagiri, around 7 am on Wednesday. The groom sustained severe injuries to his neck and has been admitted to a private hospital.The impact of the crash was such that after hitting the right side of the truck’s rear, the SUV yanked off the highway and somersaulted twice, during which time three members of the family got flung out of the SUV,which came to a halt after further crashing into the highway median at a distance of about 50 metres. The SUV was severely mangled, due to which the woman’s son and the chauffeur had to be extricated from it. The chauffeur was declared brought dead at Lanja Rural Hospital.The deceased have been identified as Yasmin Mohammad Irfan Qureshi, 54; her daughter-in-law Fiza Anas Qureshi, 27; her nephew Mohammad Anas Irfan Qureshi, 15; and driver Mustafa Alfaz Kafi, 24, who hailed from Jamnagar in Gujarat. The injured was identified as Anas Irfan Qureshi, 31, Fiza’s husband.The family, which is in the garments business, lived in the Doodhwala Complex, opposite the City Centre Mall, near the Mumbai Central railway station.Anas and Fiza who got married 20 days ago took along his ailing mother and cousin.Anas will be brought to Mumbai and admitted in a hospital in the city.“The family earlier stayed at Bhendi Bazaar and came to reside in Doodhwala Complex just six months ago. Anas and Fiza got married on June 25. This is a very sad incident,” said Dr S A Qureshi, secretary of the Doodhwala CHS. Dr Qureshi and the Qureshis are not related to each other.Qureshi’s elder sister Aafreen and her husband Ashfaque Lashkaria, along with other relatives, reached Ratnagiri and were busy in the legal formalities. The deceased would be buried at the Marine Lines Muslim Bada Qabrastan, said Dr Qureshi.Qureshi’s father, Irfan, passed away around 16 years ago.Neelkanth Bagale, police inspector of Lanja, said Dr Swaroop Eklure, who has a clinic and a residence in Shanti Nagar, reported the accident, as he was at the nearby petrol pump. After the police team reached the accident spot, Dr Eklure and other locals helped the police extricate the driver and Anas from the SUV.Inspector Bagale said, “Upon inspection of the SUV, the speedometer was found locked at 140 kmph. In the Konkan region, even speeding at 70-80 kmph is risky, especially on the Goa highway. The dumper truck was parked on the extreme left of the highway since Tuesday night due to a breakdown. The dumper driver had even kept tree branches on the truck’s rear and side and kept the parking indicator on to signal vehicles coming from behind. However, the SUV was speeding at such a speed that the driver lost control and, veering off the highway, crashed into the dumper truck’s rear, causing the fatal accident. An FIR under the BNS and MV Act sections will be registered against the dumper truck’s driver for allegedly dangerously parking the vehicle along the highway, which resulted in the crashing of the SUV into its rear, causing the fatal accident.”
