Gas leak from toppled tanker sparks panic; residents evacuated, traffic hit

Kasaragod, Dec 5: Nearly two dozens of families were evacuated from their homes at Shriya village near Kumble in Kasargod district after a bullet tanker carrying liquefied petroleum gas overturned and plunged off National Highway 17.

The mishap also led to major traffic disruption between Mangaluru and Kasaragod.

The mishap occurred when the driver of the tanker heading towards Kozhikode from Mangaluru lost control over his vehicle around 3:00 a.m. on Friday. Panic gripped the people in the village after they came to know about gas leakage.

Firefighters from Kasaragod, Uppala, Kanhangad, Trikkaripur and Kuttikol reached the spot in the morning and struggled to contain LPG leaked from a tanker. The gas leakage started from at least two points soon after the mishap, sources said.

In view of the past LPG tanker tragedies in the region, which claimed many lives, officials have taken all precautionary measures to avert a similar situation.

After evacuating people living in a radius of 500 metres near the accident spot and blocking the traffic, the technical experts managed to plug the leakage temporarily, sources said.

An alternative tanker reached the spot in the morning and the LPG from the ill-fated tanker is being transferred to it, officials said. More details awaited.