Five Weightlifters, Including World Champion, Killed in Accident on Fog-Hit Delhi Highway

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posted on 6 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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A police official said the athletes’ car first hit a divider and then crashed into an electricity pole, ripping apart the vehicle's roof.

Chandigarh/New Delhi Five national-level weightlifters, including a world champion, were killed and another was injured when the car they were travelling in met with an accident near the fog-hit Delhi-Haryana border on Sunday, police said.

The accident took place around 4 am near Alipur village of Delhi, close to the Singhu border between Delhi and Haryana. The athletes were travelling on the Delhi-Panipat National Highway-1 in a Swift Dzire car.

Saksham Yadav (28), who won a gold medal in the 2017 weightlifting championship for the country, was admitted in an "extremely critical" condition at the AIIMS Trauma Centre in Delhi. He succumbed to his injuries in the evening.

"He died at 6:38 pm of cardiac arrest," a senior doctor at the trauma centre said, adding that "the family told us that he was revived twice at the Max Hospital". He had sustained grievous head injuries and severe internal bleeding.

Wreckage of the car in Delhi's Alipur village close to the border. (Pradip Pradhan/Network18)

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Rohini) Rajneesh Gupta said the other deceased were identified as Tikamchand (27), Saurabh (18), Yogesh alias Akash (24) and Harish Roy (20). The injured person was identified as Rohit (25), he said.

The car, according to a police official, first hit a divider and then crashed into an electricity pole. Due to severe impact, the car's roof was blown away. Folded banners of Yadav's gold medal feat were found inside the car, which had a 'Ministry of Defence' sticker. The car also had an 'L' or Learner's board.

It was Rohit's birthday and the friends were out celebrating, the police said. It is being probed whether it is a case of drunken driving since there were some liquor bottles found in the vehicle, the police said. Police are also probing whether the driver could not see properly due to the fog.