Gas leak from overturned tanker brought under control after 16 hours

A gas leak from a tanker that overturned on Pune-Ahmednagar road in the early hours of Monday was brought under control after a 16-hour effort by fire brigade personnel, an official said. The tanker carrying ethylene oxide turned turtle in Wadgaon Sheri area here at 12:47am, he said. “The tanker was on its way from Nagothane near Mumbai to Osmanabad (now Dharashiv). Anticipating that the gas is inflammable, instructions were given to spray water on the tanker continuously as the gas is soluble in water. In the meantime, experts from the said company were summoned along with a vehicle having 15 cylinders and two cranes,” said Chief Fire Officer Devendra Potphode of the Pune Municipal Corporation. “The gas from the tanker was then transferred to these 15 cylinders. During this time, traffic on one lane was diverted to an adjacent one. It took 16 hours for the gas to be transferred and bring the leak under control,” Potphode said.