Man killed as truck hits motorbike on Mumbai-Bengaluru highway

A man was killed after a truck knocked down his motorcycle on the Mumbai-Bengaluru highway in Maharashtra's Pune district, while in another accident a trailer hit four vehicles on the same route, police said on Monday.

The accidents took place around 10.30 pm on Sunday, a couple of hours after a vehicle pile-up on Navale bridge on the route in which 24 vehicles were damaged, an official from Bharti Vidyapeeth police station said.

"The motorcycle rider died after he was hit by the truck outside a tunnel on the Mumbai-Bengaluru highway," he said. Around the same time, a trailer hit three to four vehicles in the area, the official said, adding there was no casualty in the accident.

"It seems due to the traffic block caused on the entire stretch of the highway, the vehicular traffic halted between Navale bridge and the tunnel. After coming out of the tunnel, the trailer driver might have lost control over the wheels and as a result, it hit three to four vehicles," he said.

Before these two accidents, a truck had lost control on the downward slope of the bridge, in which at least 24 vehicles were damaged. Thirteen people had received serious injuries and were hospitalised, the police said.