Mumbai: As a biker burned to death and another lay injured on a busy highway in Maharashtra after a collision, passers-by stopped only to shoot videos of the horrific episode.
The accident happened yesterday evening at Majalgaon Phata on NH 222 in Beed district. In the collision, both riders apparently lost consciousness. One of them got trapped under his wrecked bike, which caught fire, police said.
Both bikers then got engulfed in the flames, and while several cars, trucks and two-wheelers must have passed the spot, nobody helped them, at least for the first half an hour, police said.
Finally, one of the victims, Nitin Ajaykumar Jaiswal (23), a resident of Juna Bajhar area of Majalgaon, was taken to hospital by a passer-by.
By the time the police arrived after being informed by the Majalgaon Rural Hospital, the other biker was charred beyond recognition.
His body was sent to Civil Hospital, Beed.
Jaiswal succumbed to injuries this morning, Beed Superintendent of Police, G Sreedhar, told PTI.
Videos of burning bike and the rider trapped under it went viral on social media.
The stretch where the accident took place is uninhabited, and no water is available nearby, which could be a possible reason why no attempt was made to douse the fire, he said.
“We are investigating how the bike caught fire. But the priority right now is to find out the charred person’s identity and inform his family members,” the SP added.
The charred bike’s number plate indicated that it was registered in Parbhani district, he said.
Police also found alcohol bottles at the spot, and spilt alcohol may have fuelled the fire, another official said.
Majalgaon rural police are conducting further probe.
—PTI