PUNE: A truck driver and a cleaner died instantly after their truck crashed through the railing of old Sangam bridge and fell 25 metres into the Mutha river in the early hours of Saturday.A 50-metre section of the railings of the bridge — running parallel to the Pune-Mumbai railway tracks — disintegrated under the impact. The police have closed the bridge to vehicular traffic. It will remain closed till July 23, until the railings are repaired.“Chandrakant Shivanna Pujari (22) was driving the truck, while Santosh Vitthal Hebale (21) was the cleaner,” senior inspector Appasaheb Waghmale of Shivajinagar police station said.According to the police, the truck was stuck for 24 hours at Alibaug in Raigad due to Friday’s transport strike. The raw iron-laden truck, which belonged to a Pune-based transporter, was loaded and left for Pune around 11pm on Friday. It was headed for Hyderabad. “The truck reached Wakad around 4am. Pujari made a call, informing the owner that he had arrived in Pune,” Waghmale said.Around 4.45am, the truck was headed for Gadital Chowk from Shivajinagar, when Pujari lost control of the wheel. The vehicles punched through the bridge’s railings and plummeted into the river. “After speaking to eyewitnesses, we have concluded that the driver was drowsy and lost control,” Waghmale said.Waghmale ruled out any vehicle driving in the wrong direction as the cause of the accident. A tea-cum-paan seller, who runs a stall at Gadital Chowk, was at work at the time. “The vendor heard a loud noise and rushed to the spot. He also called other residents. They attempted to rescue the two men,” Waghmale said.Pujari was seen flashing the torchlight on his cellphone before dying. Heavy-duty cranes were pressed into action to salvage the truck from the riverbed.

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