Ahmedabad Fire Emergency Services (AFES) rescued a 22-year-old man trapped inside his car after it collided with a stationary truck at the city’s Sola flyover on Saturday.
Tilak Darshan Lakhani, who suffered injuries to his legs after a nearly hour-long rescue operation, is being treated at the Gujarat Medical Education Research Society (GMERS) Sola Hospital.
Police said the car, which was coming from Sakhej, was headed towards Shantigram via the Sola flyover. The speeding car crashed into the stationary truck that was undergoing repair for a punctured wheel. The right side of the car collided with the left side of the truck.
“Based on the intensity of the impact, we suspect the car must have been at a speed of over 70 kilometre per hour. Given that the car crashed into a stationary vehicle, we believe the man was not concentrating while driving. He was trapped inside with his leg trapped between the clutch, accelerator and brake pedals. So we used hydraulic cutters to cut the door to rescue him,” said Rajesh Bhatt, in-charge chief fire officer of AFES.
None of the persons who were repairing the truck were injured. With three fire department vehicles on the scene — a rescue tender, a multifunctional crane, and a firefighter vehicle — around 24-25 fire department personnel undertook the rescue operation. In the event of an emergency, the fire department also requested an ambulance and coordinated with Sola Hospital.
“Speed limits are specified for roads and bridges and must be adhered to. Moreover, cars must be equipped with fire extinguishers that activate automatically upon a crash… There have been several such incidents where a car caught on fire after a crash and the driver died trapped inside,” Bhatt said.