JAIPUR: A rashly driven dumper truck careered through traffic in the Harmada/Loha Mandi area of Jaipur on Monday afternoon, mowing down scores of vehicles over a stretch of road and leaving a large number of people dead and injured. Local authorities and media reports said the truck rammed into at least 17 vehicles, killing dozens — with some official counts and news outlets putting the toll at 19 dead and 13 injured — and causing scenes of chaos and carnage on the busy thoroughfare.
According to police and eyewitnesses, the dumper was moving at very high speed when it first struck a private car. Locals said the driver apparently accelerated after an initial collision and continued driving through oncoming traffic, hitting motorcycles, cars and pedestrians in a rampage that stretched across several hundred metres before the vehicle came to rest after smashing into a trailer. CCTV footage that circulated on social media and was reviewed by reporters shows the truck travelling at extremely high speed before the pileup.
Several eyewitnesses said they believed the driver was intoxicated and that his alleged inebriation — together with excessive speed — was a major factor in the scale of the disaster. Police have taken the injured driver into custody; he is being treated for injuries sustained in the crash and will be questioned once medically fit. Locals chased and detained him immediately after the truck stopped, officials said.
Hospitals in Jaipur — including the trauma centre at Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Hospital — received a steady inflow of the injured. Officials reported that several of those admitted were in critical condition and had to be moved to higher-dependency units. Local district officials and senior police rushed to the scene to coordinate rescue and relief operations. There were harrowing accounts of first-responders and residents pulling victims from crushed vehicles and trying to resuscitate them before ambulances arrived.
Different news agencies reported slightly different fatality figures in the hours after the crash — a common occurrence in fast-moving incidents as the toll is confirmed — with counts ranging from the low teens up to the 19 reported by some media outlets. Authorities said they will release an official consolidated figure after post-mortem and hospital confirmations.
Jaipur District Collector Jitendra Soni and senior police officers were at the site within an hour of the accident, according to live reports. Police said an FIR has been registered and that the driver will be investigated on charges that may include culpable homicide not amounting to murder, rash and negligent driving, and driving under the influence, if the post-arrest probe and breathalyzer/medical tests confirm intoxication. Investigators are examining CCTV footage and gathering statements from eyewitnesses and those who chased and stopped the vehicle.
State officials also ordered a review of traffic management on the stretch where the crash occurred, and have asked local transport authorities to step up enforcement of speed limits and drunk-driving checks. The incident has renewed calls from road-safety activists for stricter regulation of heavy vehicles operating inside city limits and for dedicated heavy-vehicle routes to reduce interaction with light vehicles and pedestrians.
Senior political leaders expressed grief and urged speedy assistance for victims. State ministers and other public figures announced that they had reached out to the bereaved families and were monitoring hospital treatment for the injured. The scale of the accident — with multiple vehicle crushes and many bystanders among the casualties — has prompted demands for a full judicial probe into whether road infrastructure, traffic policing or truck operator negligence contributed to the disaster.
“People were screaming. Cars were overturned and motorbikes were lying in pieces. It was nothing short of a massacre, ” an eyewitness told reporters at the scene, describing frantic rescue efforts by shopkeepers and passers-by who rushed to help victims before emergency teams arrived. Several witnesses said they saw the vehicle climb onto a divider and continue, leaving little time for those in its path to escape.
Police said they will make a fuller statement on casualties and the status of the driver once medical reports and post-mortems are complete. Meanwhile, traffic authorities are working to clear the wreckage and restore normal flow on the artery, and hospital officials continue to treat the injured. The incident has reignited debate over road safety in Rajasthan’s urban corridors and the need for tougher enforcement against speeding and drunk driving.