Vehicle rams truck parked on road, 6 Sangli students killed

KOLHAPUR: Six students of Walchand College of Engineering, Sangli were killed and 29 others were injured when an unidentified vehicle rammed their truck at Nagaon phata on Pune-Bangalore national highway early on Monday morning.
All the students pursuing engineering degree and diploma were carrying the Shiv Jyot from Panhala fort to Sangli on the eve of Shiv Jayanti and had halted at Nagaon phata to pour oil in the jyot (flame).
All the deceased youths were standing in front of the truck and pouring oil when the accident happened. As the unknown vehicle banged their truck, they were caught under its wheels. The students inside the truck were injured and were taken to Chhatrapati Pramila Raje Civil Hospital in Kolhapur for treatment.
The deceased have been identified as Sumit Kulkarni (18), resident of Virale in Kolhapur, Praveen Trilotkar (19), resident of Tata colony in Chembur, Sushant Patil (18) and Ketan Khoche (21), both residents of Tasgaon in Sangli, Arun Bonde (21) of Ramgaon of Buldhana district and Pratik Sankpal (23) of Daflapur in Sangli district.
Prashant Amrutkar, deputy superintendent of police, Kolhapur city said, "Around 40 students residing in the college hostel and in the nearby rooms had gone to Panhala fort on Sunday night in a truck.
"At around 2am, they left Panhala with the jyot and reached Nagaon. They entered the national highway with two students running in front of truck carrying the jyot. At around 4.30am, the truck halted at Ambedkar Nagar area of Nagaon phata on highway to pour oil in the jyot," he said.
Amrutkar added, "When six students were busy with the work, an unidentified vehicle travelling in same direction rammed their truck. The impact caused the truck to run over these students and injuring others. The vehicle immediately sped away from the spot."
Immediately after hearing the loud noise, the residents of Ambedkar Nagar and police from Shiroli police station rushed to the spot and admitted all the injured persons in the CPR civil hospital. The hospital authorities declared two of students brought dead and four others succumbed to their injuries in the hospital.