Birthday plans of five friends take a tragic turn

TEAM HERALD

teamherald@herald-goa.com

PANJIM: Birthday celebrations in Goa turned into a tragic nightmare for five Gujarati friends, as four among them were killed in a massive head-on-collision on the Agassaim bypass, on Wednesday night. 

A prepaid taxi driver who ferried the tourists from the Margao railway station to the hotel was also killed in the crash. 

The group’s train arrived at the Margao station at about 8:30 pm. They then took the prepaid taxi at the station and headed towards Panjim. At around 9:20 pm, their taxi was hit head on by a Tata Mobile van, resulting in a cruel twist to their planned celebrations. 

Gaurav Jaintlal Tater, Siddharth Shonlal Surna, Ronak Narpat Gothi, Rohit Pukrsaj Shah and Kunal Jain alias Gulecha, all in the prime of their youth at 23 years and hailing from Surat, had planned to celebrate Rohit’s 24th birthday on Thursday in Goa. 

But four among them died on the spot whereas the lone surviving victim Kunal’s condition is critical at the GMC, Bambolim. 

Agassaim Police Inspector S Vaigankar said the driver of the Tata mobile van (GA-02-U-6823), Rajkumar Singh, a native of Jharkhand has been held. 

“Singh was driving the mini truck in a rash manner on the Agassaim by-pass, when he dashed against the Maruti van,” Vaigankar said. 

 “Family members of the victims have flown the bodies back to their home town,” the PI said adding that the accused driver will be produced in court.  

Another occupant of the Tata Mobile, Narendra Kumar Pandit, besides the accused sustained minor injuries.