One of the longest and most grueling traffic gridlocks in the history of the 94.5-kilometre Mumbai–Pune Expressway finally began to clear early Thursday morning, ending an ordeal that spanned nearly 33 hours. The crisis began around 5:00 PM on Tuesday, February 3, 2026, when a tanker carrying 21 tonnes of highly flammable propylene gas overturned near the Adoshi tunnel in the Khandala Ghat section.
A Human Crisis on the Road
What was initially a standard accident quickly escalated into a logistical nightmare. Because the tanker was leaking high-pressure gas, authorities had to enforce a strict safety perimeter of mumbai-Pune Expressway, effectively turning the expressway into a massive parking lot.
- Duration: Thousands of commuters were stranded for over 27 to 33 hours.
- Deprivation: Families, including infants and senior citizens, were trapped without access to drinking water, food, or basic sanitation.
- Scale: Stationary vehicle queues stretched for over 20 kilometres, impacting both the Mumbai-bound and Pune-bound corridors.
Response and Recovery
The recovery operation was delicate and high-risk. Teams from the NDRF, State Disaster Response Force, and Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) worked through Tuesday night and all of Wednesday to contain the leak. The “war footing” operation involved:
- Lowering Pressure: Waiting for the internal pressure to drop from 8 psig to a safer level.
- Gas Transfer: Decanting the remaining propylene into two relief tankers, which was completed late Wednesday night.
- Removal: Using heavy-duty cranes to right the vehicle and clear the road.
Traffic finally resumed at 1:46 AM on Thursday. In the aftermath, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis ordered a high-level inquiry into the incident and the perceived lack of communication from highway authorities.
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