Mumbai: A taxi driver died after his vehicle was hit by a concrete mixer truck and caught fire at Dahisar Naka in the early hours of Thursday.

The incident occurred on Western Express Highway at 2.15am. The truck driver, identified as Dinesh Bharatiya, 29, has been arrested by the Kasturba police.

According to the police, the truck was travelling southbound from Kandivali to Andheri. The driver lost control of the vehicle near the National Park bridge, causing it to veer onto the northbound road. At that moment, the permit car was travelling from Andheri to Dahisar on the same stretch. The truck collided with the car, and both vehicles caught fire.

Bystanders immediately informed the police, who alerted the fire brigade. However, before the fire brigade could arrive, the car driver had succumbed to his injuries. The deceased, identified as Maqsood Shaikh, 54, was a resident of Andheri West. His body was sent to Shatabdi Hospital in Kandivali West for a post-mortem examination.

The truck driver fled the scene but was later apprehended by the Kasturba police. Bharatiya is a resident of Naigaon, Palghar. The police confirmed that the truck driver was not intoxicated.