A tanker carrying nearly 19 tons of coal tar has turned over in the middle of the road early this morning. The accident was so severe that the hot liquid tar started leaking from the tanker and was spread on the road for many hours causing a uphill task for the rescue and clean-up team as well as the traffic police to divert daily commuters from the affected road.

The route from Surajpol to Delhi Gate, opposite the show room of Lake City Honda remained blocked due to this early morning mishap; the team of PWD and fire brigade are still struggling hard to clean up the dodgy liquid. According to Surajpol Police Station, a tanker bearing the number RJ-01-GA-6791 carrying coal tar was coming from Ahmadabad and at around 5:30am while passing through Town Hall road, it accidently lost control and overturned on the road divider. Ganpat Singh Rawat, the tanker driver, said that the accident happened due to an auto rickshaw, which tried to overtake from the wrong side. He said, “While trying to save the rickshaw, I lost my control over the tanker.” The tanker was going to Jaipur and is owned by Shree Mahalaxmi Transport Company, Kesar Ganj, Ajmer. Fortunately, no casualties were reported as the mishap occurred early in the morning when there was no traffic. However, the divider is completely crushed and the road is still not safe to use as the coal tar is said to be highly flammable. News and Photos by Sohail Khan and Sayeed Ahmed