In a horrific accident in the UK, eight Indians including two women were killed on the spot when a minibus carrying a group of Wipro IT professionals along with their families collided with two lorries in Buckinghamshire.
Reports claim this is the worst road mishap on a UK highway in 24 years.
Among the four injured is a five-year-old girl fighting for her life, reported the Telegraph.
In the accident that occurred on Saturday morning, three Wipro employees died on the spot while a fourth one, Mano Ranjan Panneerselvam, was critically injured and is currently undergoing treatment in a hospital.
The 52-year-old driver of the vehicle, named Cyriac Joseph, also died in the accident. Joseph, who hailed from Kerala, had been living in the UK for 15 years and is survived by two children.
The police arrested the drivers of the other two vehicles and one of them has been charged with drunken driving. He will be produced before a UK court on Monday.
"It's with deep regret and sadness that we confirm the passing away of three of our colleagues, Karthikeyan Ramasubramaniyam Pugalur, Rishi Rajeev Kumar, and Vivek Bhaskaran in a tragic road accident in the UK," Ramesh Phillips, head-operations support-UK/Europe, Wipro Ltd, told the Times of India.
The IT workers and their families were on a holiday trip to Europe run by Eurostar. The minibus, at the time of the accident, was going from Nottingham to London. Following the mishap, the M1's southbound carriageway was shut down for 10 hours.
Such was the extent of the damage that it took nine fire engines and 35 firefighters, helped by hydraulic rescue equipment, to rescue four persons alive from the flattened vehicle.
"Ryszard Masierak, one of the accused, was remanded in custody to appear at High Wycombe Magistrates' Court on Monday. Another driver David Wagstaff was bailed to appear at Milton Keynes Magistrates' Court on 11 September," reported TOI.
The last time such a tragic accident occurred on a UK motorway was in November 1993 when 12 children and their teacher were killed in a crash. Based on the number of fatalities, the Buckinghamshire accident recorded the highest.
The deceased were -- "Wipro employee Karthikeyan Ramasubramaniyam Pugalu and his wife, Wipro employees Rishi Rajeev Kumar and Vivek Bhaskaran. Wipro employee Mano Ranjan Panneerselvam and his wife Sangeeta are injured but their uncle and parents are dead," the report said.
Karthikeyan and his five-year-old daughter are said to be fighting for their lives.
Minibus driver Joseph's friend Manu Zachariah, a Nottingham resident, said: "There were 12 Indians in the minibus including Cyriac. They were all from Kerala and Tamil Nadu."
