Girl dies on road, parents killed after collecting body

Navi Mumbai, May 9: Three members of a family were killed along with a relative in two separate road accidents on Thursday in a span of four hours in Ratnagiri district.

Seventeen-year-old HSC student, Dhanasree Kadam, was travelling in her father's autorickshaw from Khed to Ratnagiri to appear for her CET (common entrance test) in the morning when it toppled over at Sangameshwar on the Mumbai-Goa highway, flinging her out. She succumbed to her injuries at the civil hospital in Ratnagiri city.

The second road tragedy occurred when her parents—Pravin (40) and Priyanka Kadam (38)—were taking the body back home to Khed in an ambulance. They were following in a Maruti 800 along with a relative, Naresh Devre (50). "Around mid-noon, a heavy JCB machine strapped on top of a trailer fell on the car. It is a very shocking tragedy. Pravin Kadam was popular in the Khed-Ratnagiri area because of his helpful nature,'' said Nandkumar Thakur, additional superintendent of police, Ratnagiri. The second mishap took place on Hathkhamba-Ratnagiri Road, 2km from the accident spot at Sangameshwar.

The only surviving member of the family is younger son Shivam Kadam (15), who was at home.

"Pravin ran an auto transport service in Khed and had been an MNS worker since the party's inception. Whenever there was any accident on the Mumbai-Goa highway, he would invariably rush to help the victims,'' said Vaibhav Khedekar, Ratnagiri head of the MNS party.

Expressing grief and shock at the sudden deaths of three members of the Kadam family and a relative, an angry Khedekar said, "There are barely any good doctors in government hospitals in Ratnagiri and Raigad.''

Meanwhile, trailer driver S A Karande has been detained.