At least 12 pilgrims were killed and more than 16 others sustained severe injuries after a commercial canter truck struck a road divider and overturned on the Eastern Peripheral Expressway late Sunday night. The catastrophic traffic accident occurred near the 34-kilometer milestone in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat district as a large group of families was traveling back home. The tragic incident immediately triggered a massive midnight rescue operation involving local police units, highway patrol teams, and emergency medical personnel.

The victims, all hailing from the Budaun district of Uttar Pradesh, were returning from a spiritual pilgrimage to the famous Bagad Dham temple located in Rajasthan. According to preliminary police investigations, the driver of the speeding canter truck reportedly lost control of the steering wheel, causing the vehicle to crash violently into the concrete median divider before flipping over multiple times across the expressway lanes. The impact was so severe that several passengers were crushed instantly underneath the mangled metal frame of the vehicle.

Local villagers and commuters passing by the stretch were the first to alert the district administration, rushing to the scene to pull trapped passengers out from beneath the wreckage. Baghpat Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Arpit Vijayvargiya confirmed that 12 individuals succumbed to their injuries on the spot due to the high-velocity impact. Emergency teams successfully extracted more than 16 injured survivors, who were quickly rushed via a fleet of ambulances to nearby government hospitals in Baghpat and Meerut for urgent medical interventions.

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Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed deep condolences over the loss of lives and directed district officials to ensure that the injured receive the highest standard of medical treatment free of cost. The Chief Minister also instructed the local administration to expedite the post-mortem examinations and coordinate the swift transport of the deceased back to their native villages in Budaun. Highway authorities utilized heavy-duty cranes to clear the overturned truck from the expressway, fully restoring the flow of traffic by early Monday morning.

An official case has been registered at the local police station, and forensic teams have visited the site to determine whether mechanical failure or driver fatigue caused the vehicle to veer off its path. Road safety experts have frequently flagged the Eastern Peripheral Expressway for high-speed violations, urging stricter enforcement of speed limits and driver alertness checkpoints during night hours. The local administration is currently compiling the final list of the deceased as family members arrive at the district mortuary to identify their relatives.

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