Onion-laden truck tips over, holds up traffic on Pune-Bengaluru highway near Kolhapur for almost 5 hours

Kolhapur: Traffic on the Pune-Bengaluru National Highway (NH48) remained affected for over five hours on Thursday after an onion-laden truck overturned on a bridge over a nullah at Ghunki, around 25km from Kolhapur. The disruption began at 6.15am and continued till 11.30am.Ongoing six-laning work between Satara and Kagal has already narrowed the highway at this stretch, with vehicles from both sides diverted through the bridge. Two temporary lanes had been created using a divider. Police said the truck driver appeared to have lost control while negotiating the diversion, causing the vehicle to topple and block one of the lanes completely. As a result, traffic slowed to a crawl for nearly 4km on both sides.Highway police sub-inspector Ravindra Gaikwad and assistant police inspector Satyaraj Ghule led the team that cleared the route. The truck driver fled after the mishap, while the accompanying farmer, Balasaheb Pandurang Harpale of Shrigonda — who had loaded the onions to sell in Kolhapur — suffered injuries.Police teams from the highway patrol and Peth Vadgaon station reached the spot within 30 minutes and began removing onion sacks by hand. Two cranes were later brought in to set the vehicle upright, after which a towing van dragged it away to free up the remaining lane. "The driver may have been speeding and misjudged the diversion, applying brakes abruptly and causing the vehicle to tip over," a highway police officer said.The traffic jam extended from the Kini Toll Plaza on the Kolhapur side to Tandulwadi towards Pune. Bridge construction over the Warana river — the boundary between Kolhapur and Sangli — is also underway nearby. Several accidents have been reported along the Satara-Kagal section since six-laning work began two years ago. "The expanded carriageway and new bridges are intended to eliminate accident-prone spots and reduce crashes in the long term," an official said.