Traffic on the Mumbai-bound carriageway of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway was restored early on Thursday, around 32 to 33 hours after a tanker carrying highly flammable propylene gas overturned in the Khandala Ghat section, officials said. The tanker was removed from the accident site near the Adoshi Tunnel, allowing traffic to resume at 1.46 am, an official of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) said.

Source: PTI via Metro Vaartha

The tanker overturned on the Mumbai-bound carriageway at around 5 pm on Tuesday, about 50 metres ahead of the Adoshi Tunnel in the Borghat stretch of Raigad district. Gas leaking from the damaged tanker, which officials said had damaged valves, raised a serious explosion risk, and the Mumbai-bound carriageway was closed completely while traffic on the Pune-bound side was diverted and regulated in blocks.

32+ hoursexpressway blocked
20 kmlongest vehicle queues
1.46 amtraffic restored on Thursday

Thousands stranded overnight

Lines of stationary vehicles stretched for as far as 20 km at the peak of the congestion. Thousands of travellers, including women, children, senior citizens and patients heading to Mumbai for treatment, were stranded in their vehicles for hours without food, water or toilet facilities, and some missed hospital appointments. The MSRDC suspended toll collection on the expressway as the snarls and public anger grew.

The prolonged closure hit public transport, with many Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) buses stranded and a large number of regular services cancelled, pushing crowds onto the Pune-Mumbai rail route. Supplies of essentials such as milk and vegetables were also disrupted as goods vehicles remained stuck for hours.

Gas transferred, tanker craned away

Teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), the highway police and the MSRDC worked at the site. The propylene gas was transferred to other tankers late on Wednesday night, and the damaged tanker was then lifted away with heavy-duty cranes. Movement in the ghat section normalised gradually, though traffic slowed briefly again on Thursday morning after a few heavy vehicles broke down near the Amrutanjan Bridge stretch around 7.30 am, a police official said.

Reports said police have registered a case against the tanker driver. The 94.5 km Mumbai-Pune Expressway, India's first six-lane concrete access-controlled expressway, connects Mumbai, Raigad and Navi Mumbai with Pune, and the 32-hour shutdown has raised fresh questions about emergency preparedness for hazardous-cargo accidents on the corridor.