Delhi: Car crash throws motorcyclist off bridge into Yamuna; continue searching for victim | Latest News Delhi

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Late Saturday night, almost 24 hours after the accident, authorities and rescue officials were still searching for the victim in the river.

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Police said the incident took place around 8.30 pm on Friday when the family was returning from Noida to their home in south-east Delhi’s Abul Fazal enclave. An allegedly speeding Maruti Brezza hit Shami’s Yamaha FZ motorcycle from behind, throwing him into the river. At the same time, his wife, Arshi Rafiq, and their daughter suffered injuries, investigators said.

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Eyewitnesses and friends of Mohammad Shami – the victim, who works as a senior technology specialist at an international company providing digital technology and transformation services – said the impact was so severe that even the 10-month-old child was thrown into the air. but was only saved by the bridge’s guardrail, which directed her fall onto the footpath.

The child survived with fractures in her legs and is undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Sarita Vihar, Shami’s friend Yash Singh said.

Shami’s 30-year-old wife Arshi Rafiq suffered fractures to her spinal cord in the accident and is admitted to the same hospital, Singh said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) Ravi Kumar Singh said Kalindi Kunj police received a distress call reporting the accident on Friday evening. When police arrived, they found Shami’s badly damaged motorcycle on the bridge, along with broken parts of the car.

Investigators say the debris appears to indicate the driver of the car that caused the crash fled the scene after the crash.

“Investigations confirmed that Mohammad Shami, a resident of Abul Fazal enclave near Shaheen Bagh, was thrown into the Yamuna by the impact. His wife and daughter are currently in hospital and a search operation was immediately launched to find him,” said DCP Singh.

A first information report (FIR) of rash and negligent driving causing serious injuries under sections 281 and 125 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was registered at Kalindi Kunj police station.

The errant driver of the offending car has been identified using the broken pieces of the vehicle and scanning CCTV cameras installed on the route he took after the accident, police said. Raids are being conducted to arrest him, police said.

Authorities suspect the driver may have been intoxicated.

Professional divers and members of a boat club rescue team have been working with police and other agencies since Friday evening in an attempt to conduct a search operation in the river, police said. However, their efforts have not yet yielded results.

Eyewitnesses and locals expressed concern over the low 6.5-metre high crash barriers on the Kalindi Kunj Bridge, which do not have the protective fencing installed on other major bridges in Delhi.

“Unlike ITO and Shastri Park Yamuna bridges where iron fencing has been installed, no such safety grilles have been installed on the carriageway of Kalindi Kunj Bridge connecting Delhi to Noida. Due to this reason, similar incidents have also occurred in the past,” said Ram Prakash, a car driver.

Singh, a friend of Shami for over a decade, said the couple was returning to their home in Abul Fazal from Noida at night with their daughter when the accident took place.

He said he rushed to the bridge after receiving a call from Shami’s family and stayed there until Saturday afternoon, hoping for his friend’s return. “I was hoping they would find his body, or that he would somehow come back alive,” he said.

Shami’s family members, who had traveled from his native Haldwani, Uttarakhand, were present at the riverbanks and eagerly awaited news as the search continued till Saturday evening.