Palghar:

An eyewitness of the fatal car crash that killed two, including billionaire industrialist and former Tata Sons chairperson Cyrus Mistry, said that the two people sitting in the front were conscious moments after the crash, but the two people in the back were lying “lifeless”. Airbags were deployed in the front and the driver and co-passenger were wearing seatbelts, he said, adding that those in the back hadn’t fastened their seatbelts.

The Mercedes car rammed into the divider of the road on a bridge on the Surya river in Maharashtra’s Palghar — some 100 kms from Mumbai. The eyewitness works at a small roadside mechanic shop next to the site of the accident. Three people initially tried to rescue the victims, and also called other people to help, he said.

The first responders gathered more people to help and also called the cops. Those in the back were taken out first, and the other two in the front, who were trapped, had to be taken out after pulling back their seats, he added. They were then transferred into an ambulance and rushed to a hospital.

The car tried to overtake another vehicle from the wrong side, he said. It wasn’t raining at the time, and the visibility was also normal, he confirmed. 

The area is prone to accidents, he claimed, because three lanes merge into two near the bridge. “We see three-four accidents every year here,” he said.

54-year-old Cyrus Mistry, who succeeded Ratan Tata as chairman of Tata Sons but was later ousted in India’s most high-profile boardroom coup, was killed in a car accident in Maharashtra’s Palghar on Sunday while travelling from Gujarat’s Udwada to Mumbai in a Mercedes car.

Along with Mr Mistry, Jehangir Pandole, Anahita Pandole, and Darius Pandole were present in the car.

Jehangir Pandole, brother of Darius Pandole, is the other person who died in the accident.

Darius Pandole was an independent director in Tata group firms and had opposed the removal of Mr Mistry as the company’s chairman. He also left the Tata group with Mr Mistry.

Darius is Anahita’s husband. Anahita Pandole, a well-known gynaecologist in Mumbai, was driving the car.