Pune, Nov 21: The driver of the truck, which hit several vehicles on Mumbai-Bengaluru highway in Maharashtra's Pune district and caused a pile-up, had apparently switched off its engine on a bridge slope resulting in the accident, a police official said on Monday.

Switching off the engine affects the vehicle's braking ability and this possibly resulted in the truck hitting other vehicles on the bridge slope on Sunday, as per a probe conducted into the accident by the Regional Transport Office (RTO), he said. Mangaluru Autorickshaw Blast: Identity of Suspected Terrorist Mohammad Shariq Confirmed, Police Continue Raids.

At least 24 vehicles were damaged late Sunday evening after the truck lost control on the downward slope of Navale bridge on the Mumbai-Bengaluru highway in Pune. More than 20 people suffered injuries in the accident and eight of them were hospitalised, an official said. A case was registered against the absconding truck driver, identified as Maniram Yadav, under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Motor Vehicles Act.

The driver fled from the spot after the accident and efforts were on to trace him, police said. Assistant Commissioner of Police Sunil Pawar said, "The probe by the RTO indicates that the truck driver might have switched off the engine by turning off the ignition while on the slope. If the engine is switched off, it affects the vehicle's braking ability. That is how the truck might have gone hitting the vehicles on the slope." Pune Road Accident: Speeding Container Rams Into 48 Vehicles; Suspected Brake-Fail Leaves 3 Injured.

The truck was from Tamil Nadu and was heavily loaded with some goods, he said. A man, whose car was damaged in the accident, had said the speeding truck first rammed into some of the vehicles on the road, which in-turn hit some other vehicles leading to the pile-up. "Our car was also hit. We were four people in the vehicle and fortunately, nothing happened to us as the airbags opened, but we saw that several vehicles around us on the road were badly hit," he said.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Supriya Sule, who is the Lok Sabha member from Baramati in Pune district, visited the accident spot on Monday.

Sule in a tweet said she spoke to officials of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), police, and the National Highway Authority of India. "They all will visit the spot to assess it and taking that report, we will meet Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari and discuss what measures can be taken to make this road accident free," she tweeted.

It is necessary to make the Road Safety Act more effective, she said.

"Citizens also need to follow all the traffic rules. If there are service roads, good footpaths, and traffic rules are followed, it will definitely help reduce the accidents," Sule tweeted. She said it is necessary for the PMC to make a service road at this place (the accident spot), but it has not been done.

"At the same time, it is also necessary to take measures to reduce the slope at the spot with the help of experts," she said.