Smog triggers deadly car pile-ups in UP, 2 dead, several injured; victim says ’couldn’t see anything’
At least two people lost their lives, and several others were injured in separate smog-related accidents in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday, November 19. Visibility dropped to zero metres in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra, which lies southeast of Delhi. The Taj Mahal, India’s famed monument of love, has been obscured by toxic smog for nearly a week.
One major incident occurred in Firozabad near Agra, where a six-vehicle pile-up was triggered by low visibility. According to reports, the crash began when a car collided with a stationary truck on the road, causing a chain reaction of vehicles ramming into each other.
A victim of the pile said that nobody could see anything in the smog. “We couldn’t see anything and our car hit a car that had rammed the truck. Then three-four more cars crashed into ours,” he was quoted as saying.
In Eastern Peripheral Expressway, a truck rammed into another. The two were then hit by a bus travelling from Panipat to Mathura. According to the reports, a dozen passengers were injured in the accident.
Residents in India’s northern states woke up to another day of poor air quality on Tuesday, as a layer of dense fog shrouded most of the region, and pollution in the capital Delhi remained severe.
India battles air pollution every winter as cold, heavy air traps dust, emissions, and smoke from farm fires started illegally in the adjoining, farming states of Punjab and Haryana.
The air quality index (AQI) touched a peak of 491 in Delhi on Monday, forcing the government to introduce restrictions on vehicle movement and construction activities, and schools to conduct classes online.
Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) on Tuesday reached a staggering 488 out of 500, according to India’s Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). Additionally, at least five monitoring stations in the capital recorded the maximum AQI level of 500.
