Doctor’s birthday party turns into a tragedy at Yamuna Expressway

While traveling for a long time particularly at night, one should be careful, not just of other vehicles but of the driver’s drowsiness.

Three doctors of emergency medicine department of AIIMS Delhi were killed in an accident on the Yamuna Expressway, while four other doctors were seriously injured.

The accident occurred on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday, near milestone 88, close to Kaiti village in Surir police jurisdiction of Mathura district. The group of doctors was headed to Agra to celebrate a Dr. Harshad Wankhade’s birthday.

Victims of the accident were identified as Dr. Harshad Wankhade (34), Dr. Yashpreet Singh (25) and Dr. Hembala (24). Their bodies were taken to a government hospital mortuary.

The injured doctors, identified as Dr. Catherin Halam, Dr. Mahesh Kumar, Dr. Jitender Mourya and Dr. Abhinava Singh, are currently under treatment.

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Speaking to a news agency, deputy superintendent of police Vijay Shankar Mishra, CO Mannt, said, “The accident occurred around 2.30 am when the group of doctors of AIIMS Delhi was headed to Agra to celebrate their senior colleague Dr. Harshad Wankhade’s birthday. Dr. Harshad was driving the Toyota Innova. The speeding car rammed into the rear of a truck.”

He said, “Since it was late, we assume that the driver might have fallen asleep. One of the injured doctors informed us that all of them were sleeping in the car when the accident occurred.”

Om Singh, in-charge of Surir police station, however, said, “The driver of the SUV was trying to overtake the truck when the accident occurred. All the four injured doctors were given first-aid at a private hospital in Mathura and have been referred to AIIMS Delhi.”

According to police sources, the impact of the accident was so severe that the mangled car dragged behind the truck for nearly 300 meters. It took half an hour to take the victims out of the vehicle.

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Dr. Harshad Wankhade hailed from Balapur of Akola district in Maharashtra, while Dr. Yashpreet Singh was from Fazilka district in Punjab. Dr. Hembala belonged to Haryana. 

Injured Dr. Abhinava Singh hails from Bhagalpur in Bihar, Dr. Catherin Halam from Tripura, Dr. Mahesh Kumar from Madhubani in Bihar, and Dr. Jitender Mourya from Hamirpur.

According to the police, Dr. Catherin suffered a head injury, while the rest of the injured doctors have fractured limbs.