Seven people lost their lives on Tuesday morning after their SUV plowed into a parked trailer truck on the service road of the Bhavnagar-Somnath national highway. The victims were en route from Bhavnagar to the Alang shipyard, where they worked, according to Superintendent of Police Nitesh Pandey. The collision happened near Trapaj village in Talaja taluka, a stretch of road that sees heavy industrial traffic.
The impact was catastrophic. Eyewitnesses described the scene as chaotic, with the force of the crash pushing the trailer forward and scattering bodies along the highway. The SUV was completely wrecked. Police and emergency services rushed to the spot after being alerted. Rescuers had to use iron bars to force open the vehicle’s doors to extract the victims. Six died at the scene; a seventh succumbed to injuries while receiving treatment.
Pandey confirmed the fatalities to the media, noting that the trailer was stationary on the service road when the Bolero SUV hit its rear at approximately 10 AM. The severity of the accident turned the highway into a crime scene, requiring significant cleanup efforts before traffic could normalize. All bodies were moved to a government hospital in Bhavnagar for postmortem examinations.
Police have opened a case to determine the exact cause of the crash, focusing on whether the SUV was speeding or if driver error played a role. The Alang shipyard, located nearby, has paused operations for the day out of respect for the victims. Families of the deceased are being identified by relatives at the hospital morgue. Investigators will review CCTV footage from nearby businesses to reconstruct the final seconds before the collision.