Overview
- The LPG tanker lost control on Friday, June 26, struck the central divider at the Sihori/Kokhraj toll plaza, ruptured and released a dense gas cloud that ignited into a rapid, large fireball.
- Five people have died: the tanker driver Dharmendra Dwivedi and four others including toll workers Alok Singh, Hiramani Singh, Krishnapal Maurya and passerby Anil Kumar; two other toll employees remain hospitalized with serious burns.
- CCTV footage released by media shows the sequence of events — the tanker veering into the divider, a spreading white LPG cloud and an almost instantaneous explosion and blaze that engulfed the toll booths.
- The fire gutted parts of the plaza and destroyed vehicles parked there, emergency crews carried out cooling and rescue work, and district technical teams along with the District Supply Officer are inspecting the damaged tanker while police conduct an active investigation and postmortems are under way.
- Families and toll staff say they have not yet received formal compensation assurances from the National Highways Authority of India, and officials may use the probe findings to review safety steps for transporting hazardous gas near busy roadside infrastructure.