NAVI MUMBAI: A seven-foot rat snake,which slithered across the busy Palm Beach Road caused a pile-up involving nine cars near Sanpada on Tuesday morning.
The snake was later found dead by the roadside with a few deep injuries near its head.It is not known whether the reptile came under the wheels of a car or if it was eventually killed by locals who gathered at the spot after the accident.
Assistant commissioner of police (traffic) S Y Dhivare said the incident occurred a little after 11 am at the Sanpada section of 9-km-long Palm Beach Road.It was a Santro driver who first applied the brakes after seeing the snake.Soon vehicles behind it started ramming into each other.None of the motorists were seriously injured.Only two of them were taken to a local hospital for minor bruises, an official said.
While the Turbhe police has only registered the incident as a minor accident in their records,there is no mention of the snake.
Deputy conservator of forests (Alibaug taluka) Subhash Hivalekar said several snakes are killed on roads and highways while crossing over.Sometimes,if a rare snake is killed,the police do inform the forest department.But mostly such cases go unreported, said Hivalekar.