Thane pile-up brings traffic to a standstill
A pile-up on the busy Ghodbunder Road on Sunday night brought traffic in Thane to a standstill, with the snarls stretching out well into Monday morning and the queues running into kilometres.
A pile-up on the busy Ghodbunder Road on Sunday night brought traffic in Thane to a standstill, with the snarls stretching out well into Monday morning and the queues running into kilometres.
The accident took place at 11.10pm on Sunday, when a speeding oil tanker, which was travelling towards Thane, lost control and hit the divider. Police officials said the tanker did not stop even after hitting the divider. The momentum of the tanker caused its container to break off from the driver’s cabin and carried it over to the other side of the road, where it finally stopped.
“A Hyundai i10, which was coming from the opposite lane, collided with the tanker’s container, and was in turn crushed after being hit from behind by a truck. Three occupants of the car were trapped inside. The tanker’s container also hit two more vehicles, a Baleno and an Ertiga, causing injuries to their drivers,” senior police inspector Kishore Khairnar, Kasarwadavli police station said.
Personnel from the police station, Thane traffic police, Thane fire brigade and regional disaster management cell of Thane Municipal Corporation were rushed to the spot, along with ambulances, three hydra vehicles, a crane and a JCB demolition vehicle. The three occupants of the i10, identified as Vinod Kharat, 45, Srushti Patil, 18, and Pandurang Patil, 45, were rescued from inside the mangled remains of their car and admitted to Bhaktivedanta Hospital in Mira Road.
“The spot where the accident took place is on an uphill slope and traffic is slow moving there. We first had to arrange for hydra vehicles so the container could be removed, which took several hours. Further, the oil spill on the road made it impossible to navigate safely and sand was poured on it,” deputy commissioner of police (traffic) Vinaykumar Rathod, Thane Police said.
The container was straightened and lifted off the road around 6.30am, after which sand was poured on the spilled oil. This process got over around 8 am on Monday and traffic started moving slowly thereafter. However, the backlog took around two more hours to clear.
The driver of the oil tanker is still at large, and the police are trying to identify and apprehend him. Based on the damage to his vehicle, the police suspect he might have been driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. The police have booked him for causing injury and endangering life due to rash and negligent driving under the Indian Penal Code and the Motor Vehicles Act.