The four injured people were shifted to nearby hospitals.

BULDHANA: Around 18 vehicles were damaged and four people were injured on Friday when a cement-laden truck overturned on the Mumbai-bound carriageway of the Samruddhi Expressway near Dusarbid in Buldhana district around 11am, setting off a chain collision. The pile-up kept traffic on the corridor disrupted for nearly four hours. The truck overturned near the Dusarbid toll plaza, and vehicles behind it slowed down and came to a halt. Another truck approaching from behind then reportedly rammed into the stationary vehicles, and several of them crashed into one another. Four to five vehicles were badly mangled, and several passenger cars were among those involved. Some passengers were trapped inside the damaged vehicles. Local residents and highway police began the rescue and pulled the trapped passengers to safety. The four injured people were shifted to nearby hospitals, while the other passengers were evacuated unhurt.

The mishap brought traffic on the Mumbai-bound side of the Mumbai-Nagpur corridor to a near standstill.

Former minister Rajesh Tope of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), who was travelling from Nagpur to Jalna on the expressway, also reached the spot. Tope joined the rescue effort, helped evacuate trapped passengers and arranged medical help for the injured.

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Nilesh Tambe, SP (Buldhana), visited the site and took stock of the situation. Police have begun an investigation to establish the sequence of events and the circumstances that led to the collision. The accident brought traffic on the Mumbai-bound side of the Mumbai-Nagpur corridor to a near standstill. With wrecked vehicles occupying the carriageway and rescue work under way, long queues of vehicles built up and commuters faced considerable delay. After the damaged vehicles were removed and the carriageway was cleared, traffic was restored around 3pm and the stranded vehicles were allowed to proceed towards their destinations.

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