Maharashtra: Oxygen leaks from tanker enroute to COVID-19 facilities

Mumbai, May 05: A tanker transporting liquid medical oxygen (LMO) to COVID-19 facilities witnessed a leak due to overfilling in Maharashtra's Satara district on Wednesday, police said.

The incident took place around 6.15 pm on Pune-Bengaluru National Highway in the jurisdiction of the Satara police, when the tanker was travelling towards Kolhapur, an official said.

The tanker was dispatched from Navi Mumbai after the life-saving gas was filled and was headed to COVID-19 facilities in Kolhapur, he said. Once the leak was detected, the authorities in Satara were alerted and a technical team rushed to the spot, the official said.

The leak was soon fixed and the tanker was allowed to travel ahead, he said, adding that the quantity of oxygen that got wasted is not known as yet.

Maharashtra has been witnessing acute shortage of medical oxygen for COVID-19 patients since last month amid the second wave of the pandemic. The state government has urged the Centre to enhance the present allocation of LMO to the state by 200 metric tonnes daily.