8 killed, several injured after 50 vehicles pile up on Rohtak-Revari Highway due to dense fog

Eight people were killed and several other were injured in a massive pile-up at the Rohtak-Rewari Highway in Haryana on Monday. According to latest reports, as many as 50 vehicles including trucks and cars crashed into each other leading to this terrible incident. Initial reports suggest that the accident took place due to low visibility during the foggy morning today. The North India is experiencing cold wave for some time now. In National Capital, temperature dipped to 4 degrees recently.

This is not the first such fog-related accident. Recently, four men were killed while one was injured when a car in which they were travelling hit a divider on Ayodhya-Lucknow Highway last week.

Low visibility due to fog was stated to have been the cause that led to the accident, they said.

The victims were identified as Kedar Yadav (60), Kamla Yadav (35), Firtu (32) and Chandra Shekhar (38), the police said.

There was similar pile-up reported on Ludhiana-Khanna road in Punjab last week. However, no casualty was reported in the 10-vehicle pileup. 

The injured person was referred to a hospital in Lucknow, they added.

Meanwhile, the Northern Railways has devised an action plan to combat foggy season and decided to provide 2,648 fog safety devices in trains to ensure safety and punctuality, officials said recently.

Fog safety device is a GPS based equipment which provides advance warning to loco pilots about approaching signal. These have been provided to them for use during train operations.

These devices have also been provided to East Central Railway (877), North Central Railway (537), North Eastern Railway (975), Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) and North Western Railway (802) which are affected by fog.

General Manager of the zone T P Singh said, "All the Mail/Express and passenger trains will be equipped with fog safety device during fog situation. Further, 600 more such devices are expected to be commissioned by end of November this year and 5,400 more have already been ordered and will be received in the next three months. These will not only provide safety but also help in maintaining punctuality."

During the fog season, railways will also deploy fogmen for placing detonators (a device which generates sound when wheel passes over it) on tracks to alert the loco pilots about approaching signal.

Automatic signalling system will be converted to modified semi automatic signalling system during this time.

Sufficient walkie-talkie sets have been provided to crew and station staff. Signal indication booklets are provided to assist the loco pilots and their counseling is done for working during fog and issuing consolidated instructions for working.

Railways will also revise crew links to cater to cancellation of some trains during foggy weather. Extra crew is made available to avoid excess duty hours during late running of train, Singh said.

The periodical mandatory training and refresher courses for loco pilots and guards shall be completed by December 15, 2018, he said.

"We had started an auto sms service in Delhi division last year, we are using it this year too whereby information regarding trains which begin from here will be provide. I am also appealing to passengers to stay in touch with our helpline number 139 and not to cross tracks or level crossings during fog season," he said.

(With PTI inputs)