- विज्ञापन -
Chennai: In the early hours of Friday, a tanker truck carrying 20 metric tons of Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) overturned on the Avinashi flyover in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. The tanker was en route from the Bharat Petroleum Plant in Kochi to a storage facility in Coimbatore at the time of the accident. Fortunately, the driver suffered only minor injuries.
The incident caused a gas leak, which was eventually contained after several hours of operational efforts. Authorities indicated that the leak posed a serious risk to nearby residents. As a safety measure, five local schools were closed and residents within a one-kilometer radius of the site were evacuated.
The Avinashi flyover has been closed to traffic, with vehicles redirected to alternative routes. Specialized equipment from Tiruchy was deployed to facilitate the safe removal of the overturned tanker. Officials noted that the absence of overhead power lines on the flyover helped avert a more catastrophic event.
This incident has prompted comparisons to a serious LPG tanker accident on December 20 on the Jaipur-Ajmer highway, which resulted in four deaths at the scene and injured 80 others, some critically, leading to a total of 19 fatalities. That incident also destroyed 37 vehicles and caused significant distress among local residents, including eye irritation and respiratory issues due to dense smoke.
Just ten days prior to this incident in Coimbatore, another LPG truck overturned in the Kanuvai area, but no casualties occurred. Investigations suggested that poor vehicle maintenance contributed to that accident. Authorities are currently focused on securing the area and clearing the overturned tanker from the accident site.
