Tanker turns turtle, disrupts traffic on weh for hours

Mumbai: A tanker carrying liquid cement turned turtle on Kherwadi flyover at around 2.30 am on Wednesday, disrupting traffic on the south-bound side of the Western Express Highway for the few hours. Traffic jams were witnessed on the WEH in the peak hours of Wednesday morning, as the tanker was too heavy to be lifted by a crane.

The driver and cleaner of the tanker sustained minor injuries and were detained by the Kherwadi police station to check if they were drunk during the time of the accident.

Speaking to The Asian Age, a traffic police constable on condition of anonymity said, “Two cranes that were called for lifting the tanker were not enough, so it was finally moved on Wednesday noon. This led to a bumper-to-bumper traffic on the highway. The vehicles were stranded till Andheri on the flyover.”

According to a police source at Kherwadi police station, the accident took place between 2.30 am and 3 am on Wednesday morning when the truck hit the divider on the Kherwadi flyover. The driver and the cleaner were rescued but sustained minor injuries in the accident. The Kherwadi police alerted the traffic police immediately after the accident.

A commuter, who was travelling from Goregaon to Lower Parel on his four wheeler, Faisal Hashim told The Asian Age, “I leave my home by 8.30 am and reach my office at Lower Parel by 10.30 for my 11 am duty, but on Wednesday I reached office at 12 noon. The traffic moved very slowly.”

The Kherwadi police has detained the driver and the cleaner of the tank to check if the driver was intoxicated when the accident took place.