Industrialist takes helicopter after being stuck for 8 hours on Mumbai-Pune Expressway

Pune: Pune-based industrialist Sudhir Mehta took a helicopter to return to the city after being stranded for eight hours on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway due to a massive traffic jam caused by an overturned gas tanker.

Commuters were stuck on the expressway for over 30 hours after the tanker accident on Tuesday evening, as it led to the suspension of traffic movement for safety reasons due to leakage of the highly flammable gas from the vehicle.

Sudhir Mehta, Chairman of Pinnacle Industries and EKA Mobility, in a post on X, said he took a helicopter to get back to Pune on Wednesday after being stuck for eight hours.

He also posted some aerial shots of the massive traffic jam on the expressway.

Reacting to the prolonged traffic disruption, he said such incidents highlight the need for better emergency preparedness on high-speed corridors like the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.

"Lacs of people are stuck on the #Mumbai #Pune expressway for the last 18 hours for "one gas tanker". For such emergencies, there should be planned exit points at different locations on the expressway which can be opened to allow vehicles to return," Mehta said in his post on Wednesday.

Helipads cost less than Rs 10 lakh to build and require less than an acre of land. These should be made mandatory at various points near the expressway for emergency evacuation, he suggested.

Traffic on the Mumbai-bound carriageway of Mumbai-Pune Expressway was restored early on Thursday, 33 hours after the tanker overturned in the hilly Khandala Ghat section, officials said.

The tanker, which carried the highly flammable propylene gas, was removed from the accident site near the Adoshi tunnel in the ghat section, allowing the resumption of traffic at 1.46 am, an official from the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) said.

The Mumbai-Pune Expressway is India's first 6-lane concrete, access-controlled tolled expressway. It spans a distance of 94.5 km connecting Mumbai, Raigad and Navi Mumbai with Pune.

The tanker overturned on the Mumbai-bound carriageway around 5 pm on Tuesday, triggering a massive traffic congestion that left thousands of vehicles stranded for hours on the busy expressway.

Lines of stationary vehicles stretched for as far as 20 km at the peak of congestion. Passengers, including women and children, remain stranded in their vehicles for several hours without food, water, or toilet facilities.