Highway tragedy kills four of a family and a friend

The excitement to meet two of their relatives arriving from Tehran made a family of six and a friend of theirs set out to Delhi in order to receive their kin at Indira Gandhi International Airport. But tragedy struck on the way back when five of them were killed and four others were injured in a road mishap after a dumper crashed into their car in the wee hours of Wednesday on East Delhi’s National Highway-24.

Mehrajuddin (36), the friend, drove Qamar Abbas Zaidi (55), his wife Anjum Fatima Zaidi (50), their sons Azhar Abbas (18) and Abbas Mohammad (16), and their daughter Juhi Fatima Zaidi (13) to the airport in a Toyota Innova car. Qamar’s younger brother’s daughter Sujaina alias Lamha (7) travelled with them to pick up their relatives Anjum Fatima Zaidi (45) and her son Ali Zaidi (15), who were arriving from Tehran to spend their holiday back home in Meerut.

According to relatives, the family left for the airport from Meerut around 10 pm. The flight was scheduled to arrive at 1 am. After picking Anjum and Ali up, the family started their return journey to Meerut. Qamar was sitting on the co-driver’s seat, the children on the …read more