Mumbai-Goa highway: Traffic hit for 5 hours after tree falls on Thursday

The traffic officials, firemen and a few officials from private organisations reached the spot with JCBs and removed the tree the by 4am on Friday

Mumbai-Goa highway was blocked for around five hours on Thursday night after a massive tree fell down on the road near Vadkhal in Raigad district.

The police said the tree fell on the highway around 11pm after 48-hour continuous rainfall in the area and it was difficult to remove it from the road at that time of the night. (Representational photo/HT)

The police said the tree fell on the highway around 11pm after 48-hour continuous rainfall in the area and it was difficult to remove it from the road at that time of the night.

The traffic officials, firemen as well as officials from a few private organisations reached the spot after sometime and cut the tree into pieces, which were removed from the road using JCBs by around 4am on Friday.

“It was raining very heavily in the night. But our officials continued with their work to clear the road as soon as possible,” said police inspector Manoj Mhatre, traffic head of Raigad district.

“As the tree was big, it blocked the entire road. So traffic was hit till 4am,” he added.

Mhatre added, “No one was injured as the tree fell when no vehicle was around. Although many travellers had to suffer because of the tree fall, but it would have been worse if this would have happened in the day.”

After this accident, the Raigad police have asked the district administration to examine the trees along the highway to prevent accidents during monsoon. Also, motorists have been facing numerous problems on Mumbai-Goa highway owing to widening work at different places in Raigad district.