05 February,2026 09:40 PM IST | Pune | mid-day online correspondent
A massive traffic jam was caused by an overturned gas tanker on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. File Pic/PTI
Struck for hours in Mumbai-Pune Expressway traffic jam, a Pune-based industrialist Sudhir Mehta took a helicopter to return to the city, reported the PTI.
He was reportedly stranded for nearly eight hours on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway due to a massive traffic jam caused by an overturned gas tanker.
Traffic on the expressway remained disrupted for more than 30 hours after the accident, which occurred on Tuesday evening. Movement was suspended as a safety measure after the tanker began leaking highly flammable propylene gas.
Sudhir Mehta, Chairman of Pinnacle Industries and EKA Mobility, shared his experience in a post on social media platform X on Wednesday. He also posted aerial photographs showing long stretches of vehicles stuck on the expressway, according to the PTI.
Commenting on the situation, Mehta said the incident underlined the urgent need for better emergency preparedness on high-speed corridors such as the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, the news agency reported.
In his post, Mehta said that lakhs of commuters were stranded for nearly 18 hours due to a single tanker accident.
He suggested that planned emergency exit points should be created at various locations along the expressway, allowing vehicles to turn back during such crises.
He also proposed the construction of helipads near the expressway for emergency evacuations, stating that helipads cost less than Rs 10 lakh to build and require less than an acre of land.
He suggested that such facilities should be made mandatory.
Officials said traffic on the Mumbai-bound carriageway was restored early on Thursday, around 33 hours after the accident occurred in the Khandala Ghat section.
An official from the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) said the overturned tanker was removed from near the Adoshi tunnel at 1.46 am, allowing traffic to resume.
The tanker had overturned at around 5 pm on Tuesday, causing severe congestion on the busy expressway. At the peak of the disruption, queues of stationary vehicles stretched up to 20 km.
Thousands of passengers, including women and children, were forced to remain inside their vehicles for several hours, often without access to food, drinking water or toilet facilities.
The Mumbai-Pune Expressway, India's first six-lane, access-controlled concrete toll road, spans 94.5 km and connects Mumbai, Raigad and Navi Mumbai with Pune.
(with PTI inputs)
