What was supposed to be a memorable trip from Goa to Belgaum (Belgavi) and back to have my 2007 Honda Accord fully painted and get some spares for my other cars due to non-availability in my home state, Goa; turned out to be an absolute nightmare!
My friend was driving my Honda Accord and I in my Ford Ikon, as we would have most likely needed to have left my Accord back there in Belgaum for a couple of days for the paint work while we needed to head back to Goa before Monday, so we decided to leave early morning at 1 am on the 29th April, 2022 after my WFH duty hours and also since we both have work during the day - to avoid the terrible sun and heat, we decided to leave then, while travelling towards Belgaum.
Our hotel room being booked and everything, we thought we'll be right in time for some nice early morning breakfast.
We decided to take the route via Chorla Ghat as we were advised the road was recently done up by friends who commute regularly and both of us also having travelled in the past via Chorla, pretty much knew the way so felt all the more confident going via this route.
I was travelling ahead in my Ford Ikon while my friend followed right behind me in my Honda Accord. I was able to create a decent gap climbing the hairpin bends as the Ikon being small and zippy, allowed for easy handling unlike the much longer Accord.
I had reached almost the very top of the Ghat and had crossed the Welcome to Karnataka border board until I realised I couldn't see my friend in my rear view mirror.
I pulled over and began calling my friend only to notice his phone being out of coverage area. I got frantic after a few moments of being unable to get in touch and turned the car around to go back.
As I passed Hotel Wildernest, and almost began descending, I got even more worried.
It was not until I drove a little further that I noticed a truck driver had stopped and was trying to communicate to a figure sitting with his hands on his head at the culvert.
As I came a little closer I noticed the figure to be my friend and yelled out at him, and all I could see was his face staring up at me.
I instantly noticed a spot slight off the road and parked there with my hazards on. I got off the car and I could still see my friend trembling.
I put my torch on my phone on to see my friend having his right side completely dirtied with mud and gravel stains on his full sleeve grey t-shirt and he had mud and some twigs in his hair too.
I offered him some water and then began to ask him what happened and making sure he's fine, asked what happened to the car.
It took him a while but then he got to his senses and narrated the entire scene.
Apparently as he came out of a blind turn while climbing up the slope at a speed of around 40-50 kmph, he noticed a truck driving down in its lane while another, truck or bus (this he couldn't tell) with a lot of lights in the front (most likely a bus) overtaking on the wrong side of the road, coming down the slope at speed right into his path.
My friend even though could've braked in time and would've been able to bring the car to a complete halt, would still have been whisked away by the very momentum of the oncoming vehicle.
As any driver would due to a natural instinct, he swerved the car left off the road and away from the oncoming vehicles without making any contact with the said vehicles and was fortunate enough to have a bit of a concrete shoulder present at exactly that point before a steep drop down.
As my friend noticed the lights just going off into the night sky ahead and also being at nearly the top of a mountain, he jumped out of the car in the nick of time, fortunately landing onto the concrete shoulder.
Unfortunately my car didn't come to a halt and in the momentum went off nearly the top of the Chorla Ghat right down 200 metres.
I then went to the edge of the cliff to see a very faint hint of my car lights being on down in the wilderness.
At that point I instantly thought the truck driver who had stopped was the culprit but it wasn't the case, my friend confirmed too saying he didn't have the same number of lights and this was indeed a good Samaritan who stopped.
The actual duo, continued and didn't bother to stop or check as to what had happened to my friend.
At that point I tried dialling 100 to inform the police as I had cellular range but it dialled the Maharashtra Police network and as I explained the entire scenario to the operator he instructed me to call Goa Police instead after taking up nearly 20 mins of my time in registering my complaint only to finally informing me to call Goa Police when he asked for the detailed location to send help.
I then asked him for Goa's emergency number as 100 dialled Maharashtra instead. He kept me on hold for a few more mins only to say he couldn't find the number.. SMH
I tried Googling for it but data wasn't working. I told my friend to get into the car as I noticed he fortunately didn't have any injuries on him. But he being in such fright was just not willing to listen even though I got stern.
I finally told the truck driver who still kind enough to wait, to wait a little longer as I travelled below to the Goa check post to get help up above. He was kind enough to do so but asked me to hurry back up.
I instantly got in the car and drove off although keeping in mind I don't want to have an incident myself so although I did go down quickly, was extremely cautious and on the lookout for oncoming lights and potholes in the road.
It took me approx 20 mins to reach the bottom and I instantly explained the situation to an RTO cop at the first check point itself. He instantly dialled the Goa emergency number from his own phone which happened to be 112 and handed it over to me as I spoke to the operator and gave my number as well as my friend's number as an alternate contact number.
I immediately thanked the RTO copper and told him my shaken up friend is still waiting alone atop and I needed to rush back up and he said don't worry, I'll direct the cops who come to come right up. I thanked him again and took off back up.
My friend kept calling me even while I was down to inform me the truck had left him, probably in the fear that I had gone to call the cops and they would've probably booked/questioned him.
So now I was even more frantically climbing up at speed shifting only between 2nd and 3rd gear and only paying attention to the oncoming lights and not the potholes anymore.
I reached up again in about 20 mins to notice my friend sitting in the pitch black night. I instantly pulled the car over, put the hazards on again and got off, apologising as I headed towards my friend for the delay of making him wait nearly an hour alone on top there. My friend informed me that the cops had called him instead since I had no cellular range climbing up the mountain. The cops also asked my friend if an ambulance was needed and he replied in the negative.
During our wait for the cops to arrive which took almost another hour post me reaching back up, I personally noticed over 4 instances of heavily loaded double and triple axle trucks rushing down the slope at extreme speeds like absolute maniacs even though there was a dead turn.
One bus being completely loaded with passengers too almost fell off that very turn because it descended in such speed but was fortunate enough to control itself by using up the very last bit of tarmac present on the oncoming side - being the portion of the road where my friend and I came up from a while back. Could've been another terrible incident if there was an oncoming vehicle at that point, could've also been me!
As we were still waiting for the cops I tried to check for my insurance policy in my email hoping the data would work now as I remember taking the additional 24x7 spot assistance add-on with my insurance policy provider
Fortunately my friend had data at this point and I used his Hotspot to access my insurance policy.
I got the number for the 24x7 spot assistance and although they were helpful they told me they couldn't help us until the vehicle was brought back onto the road and from there they would tow it to the nearest garage.
I was furious to know this absurdity at that point and just decided to forget it while we waited for the police to arrive.
The cops finally arrived that too on a Hero Splendor instead of any 4 wheeler which I found to be even more absurd especially with how dangerous the road up the mountain was, although they were kind enough to ask my friend while coming up if an ambulance was needed for anyone injured and so did the operator who I had dialled, travelling up that mountain on a bike to offer help is no help at all :/
By the time the cops arrived, my Accord's lights went off and they couldn't spot it even with a torch. We explained the entire situation to them and not even for a second did they doubt what had happened to us.
The cops too in fact were in complete agreement with the way the people drive like absolute maniacs in the night, either due to intoxication or lack of rest.
They asked us to come to their outpost at Keri and give our statement. Fortunately now my friend was much better off and got into the Ikon without too much convincing as we proceeded down this time very slowly just so that my friend could remain at ease.
It was almost 6am now as we reached the bottom. We went to the police outpost and provided all the necessary documents to the police and after they verified everything and checked that my friend didn't need medical assistance, we told them we'll come back later in the day to complete the formalities because we were both extremely exhausted at this point and it was over a 50km drive even from this point back to our homes.
The cops obliged and we went off home. I dropped my friend home at around 7:30 am and as I made sure he was fine once again and didn't need medical attention, proceeded on towards my residence round-the-corner from his place.
Both of us crashed only to wake up in a few hours at 12 noon, having to head back to check about the car and complete the formalities at the police outpost.
We headed back to the accident site at 4pm with a clear view of how severe a drop it was down only to notice the vehicle being invisible from the top as it apparently caved right into the forest and tree cover.
We realised the vehicle has gone deep within away from our sight and decided to come again the next day to tackle the situation with someone who's capable of commuting down there.
The rest is self explanatory in the images attached below as my friend and the other accompanying individuals were able to head down and found the vehicle being completely damaged from the front while the cabin being perfectly intact, with both airbags being deployed.
Could tell with absolutely certainty that if anyone did happen to go down with the car, they would actually have been able to walk out of this situation alive. Kudos to Honda and their Honda Accord build quality for this 👏🏼
Just a few pointers here that I'd like to mention so that an incident such as this is prevented in the future:
1. Avoid travelling in the night or post 7pm as far as possible because even though you may remain a great driver with loads of experience like the both of us who have over 30 years worth driving experience between ourselves, having driven dozens of different vehicles over various terrains and locations, nothing could've prepared us for this situation and it could've been a lot worse.
2. Always make sure to have a full charge on your device or at least a decent amount of battery life for any possible eventuality.
3. Always carry some water, some biscuits, first aid kit and other basic necessities on a long journey.
4. Make sure to inform at least someone at home or a friend about your commute and the distance and approx ETA so that they can check up on you in case you don't call them post reaching your destination.
Again, please always remain cautious and safe during every commute as I end this very lengthy post recollecting the famous quote from the CEAT Tyres Ad - The street is filled with idiots!
(Copied verbatim from a social media post dated 2022-05-01 by Nathaniel Joseph, resident of Goa and owner of the ill fated Honda Accord)
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* No Planned Night Driving
* Mishap And Calamity
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