By A tanker carrying refined palm oil overturned on Todi Road near a trenching ground in Guna, Madhya Pradesh, on Monday.
The vehicle, travelling from Indore to Mandideep, flipped over, causing the oil to leak into surrounding drains and bushes at the accident site.
Local residents, including women, children and the elderly from nearby homes, rushed to the spot with buckets and containers to collect the spilled oil amid rising cooking oil prices.
Police officials arrived at the scene to control the crowd and warned residents that the highly flammable liquid posed a serious safety risk.
The driver, identified as Rakesh Meena, was detained on suspicion of drunk driving, though no injuries were reported in the incident.
Authorities have since begun cleanup efforts using cranes to right the overturned vehicle and clear the road of the spilled cargo.
Videos of the incident showing large crowds gathering with containers at the accident site quickly circulated on social media, drawing attention to the episode beyond the immediate area.
Similar scenes have played out at other tanker accidents across India in recent years, with rising commodity prices often prompting residents to rush to collect spilled fuel or cooking oil despite the safety risks involved.
Local police said they were assessing whether further charges would be filed against the driver pending the outcome of a formal inquiry into the cause of the accident.
Traffic on the affected stretch of road was briefly disrupted during the cleanup operation before normal movement resumed later in the day.
The Indore-Mandideep route sees a steady flow of commercial cargo traffic, and tanker accidents of this kind are periodically reported on India’s national and state highways.
Cooking and edible oil prices, including palm oil, have seen periodic volatility in India this year, a broader trend that has made price-sensitive commodities like refined oil a recurring flashpoint at accident sites.
Photo by Eric Polk, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
