Maharashtra: Oil tanker accident chokes traffic on Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway, other key roads

Thane: An oil tanker rammed into a road divider in Maharashtra on Thursday, resulting in a massive traffic at a junction of the busy Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway and other key roads on the outskirts of Thane city, officials said. There was no report of any casualty, they said. The tanker, which was on way to Shilphata in Thane from Gujarat, met with the accident on the city’s arterial Ghodbunder Road around 1.30 am, following which furnace oil from the vehicle leaked on either side of the road, Thane Municipal Corporation’s regional disaster management cell (RDMC) chief Santosh Kadam said. This caused heavy traffic congestion on both sides of the Ghodbunder Road and at the key junction of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway here, an official from Mira-Bhayander Vasai-Virar police commissionerate control room said. “Commuters faced a tough time because of the terrible traffic jam on the key roads,” the official said. After being alerted, local firemen, police and RDMC personnel rushed to the spot where they sprayed water and put sand to clear the oil, Kadam said. But, the vehicular movement was still badly affected, officials said. “No one was injured,” Kadam said, adding that efforts were on to restore smooth traffic movement on the roads.