Senior citizen couple on way to GMC dies in accident at Bambolim

Panaji: A senior citizen couple travelling to the Goa Medical College (GMC) for a doctor’s appointment died in a road accident at Bambolim on Monday after they took the highway instead of the service road, which was blocked due to a tree fall. The incident took place at 4am on Monday.

The couple who were on a two-wheeler lost their lives after they had a head-on collision with the ongoing four-wheeler as their two-wheeler was on the wrong side on the highway.

Agasaim PI Anant Gaonkar said that the senior citizens who were on the way to GMC, when they reached near the junction to leave the national highway and take the service road, as the service road was blocked due to a tree fall, they continued to ride their two-wheeler on the national highway proceeding towards Margao.

Gaonkar said when the rider realised that he had crossed the GMC, he took a turn on the national highway and proceeded towards the Panaji side on the national highway, which was one way.

Agasaim PI said that a phone call was received from an unidentified person informing that an accident had occurred near Atal Stadium, Bambolim, on NH-66 road. Accordingly, the ASI registered MV accident and proceeded to the spot.

Upon reaching the spot, the ASI found that the accident was between a four-wheeler and a scooter. The injured rider and the pillion rider were shifted to the GMC for treatment.

The PI said that during inquiry, it was revealed that the scooter rider was proceeding in the wrong direction, that is, in the lane meant for traffic moving from Panaji towards Agasaim side and dashed against an oncoming four-wheeler, driven by 23-year-old Karnataka native Jagdish Rathod.

“Due to the accident the rider, namely 80-year-old Remigio Fernandes, and pillion rider 65-year-old Paulina Fernandes, wife of Remigio, resident of Salvador Do Mundo, sustained grievous injuries,” Gaonkar said.

Gaonkar said the police station received wireless from GMC informing that Paulina and Remigio were declared dead in the GMC casualty. The PI said that postmortem was conducted on the bodies of the deceased.