MUMBAI: Two members of a Prabhadevi-based family were killed and two others sustained serious injuries when their SUV hit a divider on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad national highway in Virar in Maharashtra's Palghar district on Friday morning.
Mandvi Police said a case of accidental death has been registered.
Preliminary investigations found that the car with four occupants was headed to Palghar.
At around 10.30am when the car reached Sakwar village on the highway at Virar, the driver, Ruchik Desai (30), lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a divider.
The car came to a halt and did not land on the opposite road (Mumbai lane).
Desai, along with Ramesh Musle (51), seated beside him, Ashok Musle (71) and Madhuri Musle (50) seated on the rear seats sustained serious injuries.
Locals who rushed to help the victims had a tough time pulling out the front seaters from the vehicle.
They were rushed to the nearby Galaxy hospital.
Desai and Ramesh succumbed to their injuries at around 3.30pm.
Ashok and Madhuri have been moved to a hospital in Mira Road.
Eyewitnesses told the police that the car was speeding.
Police said the SUV was badly damaged from the front side.
Police said it is yet to be ascertained if the car occupants were wearing seat belts.
This is the third major accident on the highway this year.
On January 31, four members of a family from Surat were killed on the highway at Charoti in Dahanu taluka when their car had a head-on collision with a luxury bus.
A similar accident had occurred on the same stretch at Charoti on January 8 when three members of a Nalasopara family were killed when their car crashed into a truck while trying to overtake.
After the death of former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry in a car accident on the highway near Charoti in September last year, the district administration has put in place several measures to check speeding vehicles on the highway.
Police said in most cases, the driver has been found to be speeding.
Speed limit on the highway has been set at 80 kmph but vehicles are found to exceed the limit, police said.
Motorists have also complained of heavy vehicles driving on the fast lane on the highway.
