At 10:15 A.M., as they came over one hill, Elizabeth saw a car coming toward them on the wrong side of the road. She slowed down in the hope that as soon as the driver saw her, he would turn to avoid them. But he failed to stop, and collided with their car at full-speed. Just as the accident occurred, Elizabeth remembered Baba raising his left hand and pointing to the oncoming car, as if he were somehow directing the whole affair.
Baba was thrown clear out of the car and landed on his back in a muddy ditch on the side of the road. Blood flowed from his nose, which was broken; one arm and leg were fractured. Mehera and Meheru were also thrown from the car. Mehera had a deep gash in her forehead, and Meheru's wrists were fractured and sprained. Elizabeth was pinned behind the steering wheel with both her arms fractured and six or seven ribs broken. Mani, who had been dozing in the back seat, was the only one unhurt.
According to a police accident report filed at the time for insurance purposes, the accident occurred in Lincoln County, Oklahoma, on Route 62, 600 feet from the East County Road, near the town of Meeker, Oklahoma, approximately ten miles west of Prague.
The driver of the other car, Anthony Joseph Palmieri, 24 at the time, described how the accident occurred:
I was going east in my '52 Mercury sedan, when I saw a truck stopped in front of me. So I slowed down. But when doing this, my brake froze on one side, which gave the car the tendency to turn left. In doing so I made a U-turn across the highway and off the road. Then the Nash came at a pretty good speed and hit me in the rear.
Palmieri drew this diagram to illustrate how the accident occurred.
According to Elizabeth's account:
Our party was on a motor tour from Myrtle Beach, S.C., to California. I was driving my Nash Statesman along the open road toward Oklahoma City, having passed Prague a few miles back. Suddenly, I saw a car coming at me, at a very high speed, toward Prague, or towards me. It swerved from its right side of the road in front of my car for no reason that I could see. I put on my brakes with all force, and gave the other car as much room as possible, and kept my car as far to the right-hand side of the road as I could without going into the ditch.