2 stop to help van driver after crash, die as truck hits themon DME

Noida: Two people were killed and three others injured in a chain of accidents on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway near the Sector 62 roundabout, police said. The incidents occurred around 11pm on Monday when a pickup van travelling from Lal Kuan in Ghaziabad towards Delhi crashed into a truck that was parked on the roadside near the International Trade Expo Centre Limited. The impact left the pickup driver, Hariom, a resident of Delhi's Mangolpuri, trapped inside the vehicle.
Four truck drivers—Devendra and Virendra from Shahjahanpur district, Govind Chauhan from Azamgarh, and Sahil from Baghpat—stopped to help rescue the injured man, police said.While the group was attempting to pull Hariom out of the damaged cabin, a Delhi-bound truck carrying vegetables rammed into the men standing on the carriageway. Eyewitnesses said the collision was severe, hurling the rescuers several metres onto the road.Police teams rushed to the scene and, with the help of cranes, extricated the trapped driver and cleared the damaged vehicles. All five injured men were taken to a nearby hospital, where Devendra and Govind Chauhan were declared dead on arrival. The remaining three — Hariom, Virendra and Sahil — are undergoing treatment and are reported to be in stable condition.An eyewitness, Shahrukh, who was returning from a wedding at the time, said four people were helping the injured driver when the speeding truck struck them, dragging the victims for a few metres. He said he suffered a minor hand injury while assisting at the scene.Another man, Vikas, who was driving by in a car, told cops that Hariom's foot was stuck in the steering wheel of the minivan, and the others were trying to pull him out.The accidents disrupted traffic on the expressway for several hours. Cranes were used to remove the damaged vehicles from the roadway and restore the flow of traffic, officials said.The driver of the vegetable-laden truck has been taken into custody, and legal actionhas been initiated. Officials said further investigation is underway to establish the circumstances leading to the second collision. The number of accidents on DME rose by 95% last year, while fatalities increased by 19%, according to traffic department data. Between Jan and Nov 30 last year, a total of 41 accidents were reported on the expressway that left 25 people dead and 39 injured. During the same period in 2024, there were 21 accidents, in which 21 people were killed, and 37 others were injured.Officials attributed most crashes to speeding, wrong-side driving and illegal parking. They also pointed to the removal of traffic personnel from expressway entry and exit points earlier this year, which they said contributed to the spike in accidents. The expressway is currently monitored through a network of CCTV cameras installed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).