Oil tanker overturns in Thane; major traffic jam averted with quick police action

According to the Thane traffic police, a tanker carrying furnace oil lost control while negotiating the Gaimukh turn at high speed and overturned on the Ghodbunder-bound lane; at the same time, a truck travelling in the opposite lane developed problems with its booster and broke down

A major traffic jam that could have stretched into most of the day was averted in a coordinated operation between the Thane, Navi Mumbai, Mira Bhayander Vasai Virar police in the early hours of Thursday.

An oil tanker overturned in Thane in the early hours of Thursday, spilling oil on the road and causing traffic to come to a standstill for a couple of hours. (HT PHOTO)

According to the Thane Traffic Police, a tanker carrying furnace oil lost control while negotiating the Gaimukh turn at high speed and overturned on the Ghodbunder-bound lane of the road at around 2.30am on Thursday. At the same time, a truck travelling in the opposite lane developed problems with its booster and broke down.

“The oil from the tanker spilled out on the road, rendering it unfit for driving, while the broken down truck on the other lane also brought traffic to a standstill,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Balasaheb Patil, Thane Police said.

Several teams of policemen from the Traffic Police as well as the Kasarvadavli police station, along with a fire brigade team were rushed to the spot. Officials said that the incident was all the more urgent because it happened during the time that heavy vehicles are allowed to pass through Thane. As per the existing rules, heavy vehicles can ply between 11pm and 5am in Thane city limits.

“We contacted the Traffic Police officials in Navi Mumbai, Mira Bhayander Vasai Virar commissionerates, and asked them to not allow any more heavy vehicles towards Thane till the issue was resolved. Meanwhile, the fire brigade used pressure pumps to hose the road with water in order to wash the furnace oil away. Next, the road was covered with a layer of sand,” Patil said.

He added that the entire process took close to three hours, and traffic started moving at around 5.15am on Thursday. The backlog that had accumulated over the night took over an hour to clear with a bottleneck being created at the Fountain Hotel. However, by the time peak commuting hours began, the traffic had resumed to its normal movement, officials said.