Mumbai/Pune, February 5, 2026 — A severe traffic standstill on the Mumbai–Pune Expressway left thousands of travellers stranded for nearly 32 hours, after a gas tanker carrying highly flammable propylene overturned near the Adoshi Tunnel in the Khandala ghat section, bringing the region’s busiest highway to a grinding halt.

The crash early Tuesday evening triggered a complete suspension of traffic towards Mumbai as authorities feared a potential explosion due to the leaking gas. Officials said safety concerns forced them to block both directions of the expressway, creating kilometre-long queues of cars, trucks, buses and two-wheelers that hardly moved for over a day.

Stranded motorists described harrowing conditions: families were left sleeping in vehicles, ambulances carrying patients struggled to make progress, and supplies of food and water ran low on the immobilised road. Emergency services, disaster response teams and fire crews worked for hours to control the leakage and safely transfer the gas from the damaged tanker before it could be removed.

The prolonged congestion caused major disruption to public transport, with hundreds of MSRTC bus trips cancelled and passengers forced to seek alternative routes on the older Mumbai–Pune highway and through ghat roads.

Thousands of commuters reported missing work, meetings and appointments, while transporters faced heavy losses from goods vehicles unable to reach destinations. A few travellers with means opted for helicopter evacuations after being stuck for hours.

Political voices also weighed in, with leaders criticising the government’s traffic management and urging improvements to infrastructure, including plans to complete the long-pending 13-kilometre “missing link” that could help reduce future logjams.

After relentless efforts, the damaged tanker was finally lifted and removed late Wednesday night, allowing officials to gradually reopen the expressway early Thursday. Traffic was restored only after nearly 32 hours of disruption, though slow movement continued as the backlog cleared.

The incident has raised serious questions about highway safety protocols, hazardous-materials transport supervision, and emergency response readiness on one of India’s busiest road corridors.

— Reported by Anam Siddiqui