An over speeding gas tanker carrying 18 tonne LPG fell down from a road flyover on early Monday morning in Mumbai after the driver lost his control. The explosion that followed after the accident left one dead and injured 14.
A gas tanker was heading towards Vashi in Navi Mumbai at 2 a.m. in the morning, when the driver lost control at the Sion-Panvel highway near Govandi, an eastern suburb in Mumbai. The tanker flipped and fell down from the flyover near the slums. In a short while, the inflammable LPG within the tanker caught on fire, leading to the massive explosion. Despite efforts of dousing the fire, the tanker kept on burning for next 14 hours.
Injured have sustained 50-90 per cent burn injuries and have been admitted to the Sion and Rajawadi hospital in Mumbai. The name of the deceased person has been identified as Vijaykumar Pandey.
“Around 20 fire engines were called on spot to douse the fire. But the impact of the explosion was such that all our efforts turned futile. We immediately closed the road for traffic to avoid any further casualty,” said an official from the Govandi police station. Traffic of the Sion-Panvel highway was diverted to other routes for around 14 hours, causing traffic jams.
