7 of family returning from wedding killed as unidentified vehicle hits car

Two more persons, including a six-year-old girl, succumbed to injuries on Monday, taking to seven the death toll in a crash involving a car and an unidentified vehicle on the Eastern Peripheral Expressway in Greater Noida, police said.

Those killed include three women, all sisters, two girls and two men, including the driver of the car. The car was hit by the unidentified vehicle in Site 5 police station area around 9 pm on Sunday, the police said.

The family was returning to Bulandshahr from a wedding function in Haryana's Ballabgarh, a police official said.

"Six other occupants of the Maruti Eeco were injured when it was hit by the unidentified vehicle from the rear. Most of the injured included children and four of them have been referred to Delhi for treatment," the official said.

The deceased have been identified as Shamsheera, 60, Bhoori, 30, Rihanna, 18, Aasim, 48, Sabir, 23, and Asha, 6, the police said.

The injured include Shabnam, 38, Musharraf, 19, Rehan, 16, Farhan, 8, Midra, 8, and Rubiyan, 5, the police said.

Site 5 police station officials said search is underway to identify the erring vehicle, while it was not known whether any of the victims were wearing seatbelt at the time of the incident.

An FIR has been registered under Indian Penal Code sections 279 (rash driving), 427 (mischief), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 304A (causing death by negligence), the police added.

The Eastern Peripheral Expressway or Kundli-Ghaziabad-Palwal Expressway or National Expressway II is a 135-km-long, six-lane expressway connection Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh.