Mangaluru, Apr 19: Over 50 families of a village near kalladka in Bantwal taluk of Dakshina Kannada district were evacuated after a bullet tanker carrying liquefied petroleum gas overturned and the gas spread in the locality in the wee hours of Tuesday.
The tragedy that occurred at 1 a.m. blocked National Highway 75 at Surikumeru village for hours causing traffic chaos.
It is learnt that the driver of the ill-fated tanker, which was ferrying LPG from Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited to Bengaluru, lost control over his vehicle while negotiating a curve thanks to over-speed.
The villagers, who heard a loud noise at night moved out of their houses to find a topped bullet tanker. It is learnt that the driver and conductor had fled the spot. The villagers were panicked as the inflammable gas spread around the area emanating the pungent smell.
Since the accident took place near the village having around 50 houses, it was evacuated as precaution.
After receiving information from local residents the fire extinguishers rushed to the spot while the police cordoned off the area and diverted the vehicles on highway.
Over six dozen fire personnel from seven fire brigades including from Bantwal, Mangaluru East, Mangaluru West, Beltangady, Puttur took part in the overnight operation.
It is said that despite all the efforts the gas continued to leak till 8 a.m. and finally experts managed to plug the leak.
The vehicles moving towards Puttur from Mangaluru were stopped at Kalladka and diverted via Veerakmbha-Anantady-Kodaje route. Vehicles coming from the opposite direction were stopped at Kabaka and diverted via Vittal. Vehicles coming from the direction of Uppinangady were diverted through Mani-Anantady-Veerakmbha route.
Welcoming the move Dr Arathi Krishna told coastaldigst.com that Indians stranded in any foreign country can utilize this facility. "Initially, I was approached by Mr Zakaria and Mr Sheik who wanted chartered flights to help their employees fly back to India. I asked them to write to the Indian Ambassador in Saudi Araia Mr Ausaf Sayeed. Then I requested the ambassador to forward the request to Joint Secretary Dr Nagendra Prasad, who is in charge of gulf division in the Ministry of External Affairs, and then to Secretary on charge of Gulf and then I requested Secretary of Economic Relations Mr T S Tirumurti who was also in charge of Gulf to follow this up," she said.
Comments
Why not make pipeline supply and remove all these tankers out of road??!!
I am surprised to see people are gathered around there without any fear...a little spark of fire will destroy everything up there...they should be away from that spot at least something around 200 meters.
The PERNE incident remembered! But why MRPL is lethargic in implementing the safety in transportation??
This is result of \MAKE IN INDIA\". Poor design of roads, poor quality of roads, poor quality of safety procedures, poor quality of tanker drivers, poor emergency procedures and yet feku says make in india"
Mangalore Bantwal Highway is probably the worst 4 lane Highway in India!!
Such tight turnings on a highway results in such accidents.
Ban all these bullet tankers moving on the road. Wherever it moves create problems. The public should aware the danger of these kind of tankers piling on the roads with hazardous materials. Instead of transporting these kind of hazardous materials/gas on the road let the companies use railway transport. Dear friends take this issue to the court directly. Banging govt dept doors is no use, because this system is a big lobby.
This tanker drivers consume alcohol in the night and drive. Thats why such accidents repeatedly occurring in the night. Must cancel their license first.
driver driving the tanker or cleaner ?
threat to the people, this s not first time. last time we lost 9 lives homes, terrible movement still this happening in a monthly interval time. this tanker should be banned to travel in the city.
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