Three persons from Jaipur who were waiting on the Delhi-Jaipur Expressway for help after escaping unhurt in a collision of cars near Iffco Chowk were run over by a speeding vehicle early Sunday, police said, adding one of the victims was currently on life support and the other two were being treated for severe injuries.

Police identified the trio as Azharuddin (who goes by a single name), 32, Saransh Khandelwal, 27, and Himanshu Vyas, 26, who worked in a software company in Jaipur and were travelling to their company headquarters in Dwarka, Delhi, in a car.

Inspector Surender Singh, station house officer of Sector 18 police station, said that in the initial collision, an elderly person driving a car ahead of the trio’s vehicle suddenly applied brakes. “After the crash, Azharuddin managed to bring the car to the extreme left of the expressway to avoid traffic hazards. The trio did not call the police as the driver was an elderly person. They alerted a few colleagues and managed to contact a crane service to tow their car to a service centre. Khandelwal was resting inside the damaged car while the other two were standing along the car waiting for help to arrive,” he said.

Police said a crane reached the spot and the trio was removing their belongings from the vehicle, when a speeding SUV crashed into the vehicle from the side and immediately fled the spot. One of the doors of the car almost came unhinged and police are probing how the speeding vehicle veered off its course to ram the vehicle on the side.

A senior police officer investigating the case said Vyas was crushed between both vehicles and Azharuddin was flung by a distance, as the duo bore the direct impact. “Khandelwal also sustained injuries. The SUV driver managed to speed away from the spot without slowing down,” the officer said.

Police said the crane driver called for an ambulance and informed the police. They were shifted to a hospital in Sector 29.

SHO Singh said that a cab driver who witnessed the incident chased the SUV for six to seven kilometres and recorded a video of the SUV, in which the registration number was visible. “The SUV was registered in Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh. We are trying to track the driver and arrest him soon,” he said.

Vyas is in critical condition and is on ventilator support, police said.

On Azharuddin’s complaint, an FIR was registered against the unidentified SUV driver under sections 279 (rash driving or riding on public way), 337 (causing hurt by acting rashly or negligently as to endanger human life), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 427 (damage to the amount of ₹50 or above) of the Indian Penal Code at Sector 18 police station.