Thaindian News

Mumbai, June 9 (IANS) At least two dozen vehicles piled up one upon another after two freak accidents on the busy Pune-Mumbai Expressway Saturday evening, disrupting the weekend holiday traffic, highway police said.

In the first accident, around 3 p.m., a tempo suddenly applied brakes before entering the Kamshet Ghat tunnel on the expressway, causing at least 15 vehicles to pile up and banging into one another from behind and creating a major traffic snarl.

As the state highway police began clearing the snarl, a Xylo SUV broke down on the expressway barely an hour later and was hit by another vehicle.

The vehicle then reversed and drove off.

However, the Xylo in the middle of the expressway caused another pile-up of eight-nine vehicles.

Barring minor damage to the vehicles and injuries to 10 people, there were no other major emergency, said police.

A highway control room official said that due to the traffic snarl, the Pune-Mumbai traffic was diverted to the old Mumbai-Pune highway.

At present, traffic is moving at a snail’s pace on the expressway.

The authorities hope to restore normalcy by night.