On the night of April 28, on the Sion-Panvel route, the crane debacle near Mankhurd caused one of Mumbai’s worst traffic nightmares in recent memory, stranding hundreds of commuters, including the actor. Sonali Kulkarniruined for hours. He, known for his role in ‘Dil Chahta Hai’, documented the ordeal in a video that has since gone viral, as a police constable lost his life on his way home from work after being caught in the same ambush.
Sonali Kulkarni is stuck in traffic for five hours
Actress Sonali Kulkarni, who was traveling to Pune, was among the hundreds of passengers trapped on the Mankhurd Bridge. He shared a video on social media that showed bumper-to-bumper traffic overnight, with cars, buses and heavy trucks completely immobilized in all directions. He said, “It’s been five hours… five hours we’ve been stuck here. You can see the traffic behind and ahead of me. We are completely stuck because we can’t go back either.”The actor said he approached the traffic control for an update but only received a request to wait, leaving unclear when it would be cleared. He said: “They are saying to be patient; the jam is very bad, and they are not sure when it will be fixed.”With no way to get off the highway and no access to basic amenities, the actor made a direct public appeal for police intervention. He said: “If you can come from the other side and let us know… if you can help or give us an update, please. I know people have had to go through worse scenarios than us, but this is terrifying. Five hours in one post.”
More about the event
The chaos began when an excavator-mounted digger crane fell on the busy Sion-Panvel highway in Mankhurd area on April 28. The incident brought traffic to a complete standstill along stretches of Mankhurd, Chembur and nearby areas, with congestion spilling over into the next day.The tragedy extended beyond the hour’s wait. Police constable Santosh Gopal Chavan, 23 years on the force and attached to the Nehru Nagar police station, was critically injured after he was caught in a traffic jam while returning home to Panvel on his motorbike after a night shift at the Eastern Region Control Room. He later died of his injuries.
