Thrissur (Kerala), Sep 6: In a tragic road accident in Kerala Thrissur district, a couple and their three-year-old son were killed after a speeding car rammed into their motorcycle, officials said on Sunday.

Police said that a search is currently underway to trace the driver of the car who fled from the spot following the accident.

The deceased have been identified as Muneer, 35, his wife Shafna, 28, and their three-year-old son, Mohammed Ameen Aibak. They were residents of Panchavadi Thazhatheth House at Edakkazhiyur in Chavakkad.

According to police, the accident occurred at around 11.30 pm on Saturday on the Guruvayur–Kunnamkulam road. The family was returning home after attending a wedding ceremony when they stopped their motorcycle by the roadside to attend a phone call.

Meanwhile, a car bearing registration number KL-46-U-6001, travelling in the same direction, reportedly lost control and crashed into their motorcycle.

The impact was so severe that all three occupants of the bike were thrown nearly 50 metres away. Though they were rushed to different private hospitals with serious injuries, none of them could be saved.

Police officials said the car driver, who was allegedly returning from a bar in the Kunnamkulam area, fled the scene immediately after the accident.

Two other people who were travelling in the car have been taken into police custody and are being questioned.

Police have launched a search for the absconding driver.

In a similar tragedy, eight engineering college students from Tamil Nadu were killed after the car in which they were travelling rammed into a stationary goods lorry on National Highway 66 at Kaipamangalam in Thrissur district around midnight on Friday.

The accident occurred at Panambikkunnu Centre on a stretch of the national highway where construction work is underway.

The Tamil Nadu-registered car, carrying eight people, crashed into the rear of the lorry, which had been parked near a diversion created as part of the ongoing highway works.

The impact of the collision was severe, leaving the car completely mangled and trapping its occupants inside.

Local residents and rescue personnel rushed to the spot after learning about the accident. The damaged vehicle had to be cut open to extricate the victims.

Seven of the occupants are understood to have died at the accident site, while another victim was rushed to hospital but could not be saved.

A major tragedy was averted after an LPG cylinder caught fire in a ground-plus-two-storey structure in Mumbai’s Dharavi area, officials said on Sunday.

Four people, including two minors, suffered injuries in the fire, which occurred early on Saturday, and are currently undergoing treatment.

The incident was reported from Sion-Dharavi Link Road, Rajiv Gandhi Nagar, near Rajiv Gandhi Sports Club in Dharavi.

According to the update shared by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB), the public gathered in the area after the cylinder caught fire and extinguished the blaze before the fire brigade reached the spot.

Four persons who suffered injuries in the incident were shifted to a hospital in a police van before the arrival of the fire brigade.

Mumbai Fire Brigade, Police, and Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) were mobilised following the blaze.

The fire was extinguished by 12.10 a.m., MFB officials said.

According to hospital authorities, the injured include two minor boys, aged five and four years old, respectively.

While the four-year-old suffered eight per cent burn injuries, the five-year-old had five per cent burns.

The other two injured people suffered 15 per cent and 30 per cent burns, respectively.

A Level-I fire broke out in a commercial building on Kandiwali Station Road in Mumbai’s Kandivali West last month.

Following the incident, 11 people were safely rescued from a lodging house on the second floor, according to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) Mumbai Fire Brigade.

The incident was reported to the Mumbai Fire Brigade Control at around 4.14 a.m. The fire broke out at Abhirai Hotel on Kandiwali Station Road.

According to the fire brigade’s update, the blaze was confined to electrical wiring, electrical installations, wooden furniture, tarpaulin, bamboo and plastic materials at an adjacent temporary fruit stall.

The fire also affected clothes, wooden furniture and a false ceiling over an area of approximately 50 square feet on the fourth floor. Aluminium and plastic decorative sheets on the exterior side of the building were also affected.

The building is a commercial structure comprising a basement, ground floor and four upper floors. The entire building was smoke-logged during the incident.

The number of those injured in the traditional ‘Dahi Handi’ celebration across Mumbai has risen to 376, officials said on Sunday.

Out of the 376 ‘govindas’ who suffered injuries in separate incidents, 90 have been admitted to various hospitals for treatment, while 286 have been discharged.

The annual ‘Dahi Handi’ celebration is organised a day after the Janmashtami festival, which marks the birth of Lord Krishna.

The hospital-wise data showed that CT hospitals reported 183 injured ‘govindas’, with 29 admitted, 23 under treatment, and 131 discharged.

WS hospitals reported 126 injuries, with nine people admitted, 14 under treatment, and 103 discharged.

Several other injured people are currently undergoing treatment in other hospitals of the city.

The latest figures mark a significant increase from the earlier BMC update on Saturday, when 118 ‘govindas’ were reported injured across Mumbai.

A day earlier, a seven-year-old boy lost his life after a brick structure collapsed during the festivities. The incident occurred at the Ekta Welfare Society in Chikuwadi at Malvani, in Mumbai’s Malad West area.

According to reports, the event organisers had tied the safety and support ropes for the Dahi Handi to a nearby tree and a ground-floor brick column of a building under construction.

Under the tension during the attempts to break the Handi, the brick column suddenly gave way. ​The collapsing structure hit young Rudra Kadam, 7, inflicting severe head injuries. He was immediately rushed to the Malvani General Hospital, but doctors declared him brought dead.

Local police and BMC ward officials arrived at the spot shortly after receiving the news to investigate.

​In a separate incident in Old Sangvi, at Pune’s Pimpri-Chinchwad area, a 45-year-old woman, identified as Salma Salauddin Pathan, died after an iron frame set up for the celebrations collapsed on her.

The accident took place late on Saturday night following the conclusion of the event organised by the Vighnaharta Mandal. As workers were dismantling the iron arch and sound setup, a heavy metal section collapsed, striking Salma on the head. She was rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors pronounced her dead on arrival. ​

Salma had attended the event with her husband, Salauddin, to support their son, Rahim Pathan, who is a volunteer for the Vighnaharta Mandal.

Demonstrating extraordinary restraint, the grieving family declined to lodge a formal complaint against the organisers, saying that the youth involved were like family and they did not wish to jeopardise their futures. ​Despite the family’s refusal to file a complaint, Senior Police Inspector Jitendra Koli of the Sangvi Police Station confirmed that a case of accidental death has been officially registered.