Actress Sonali Kulkarni was stranded for several hours in a massive traffic jam on the Mumbai-Pune highway on Wednesday night.

The incident highlights the precarious nature of urban infrastructure and the immediate, widespread disruption caused by construction accidents in India's densely populated transit corridors.

Kulkarni, known for her role in "Dil Chahta Hai," documented the ordeal in a video that later went viral. She said the experience was "extremely scary" [1]. The traffic jam occurred on the Sion-Panvel route near Mankhurd in the eastern suburbs of Mumbai [2, 3, 4].

Reports on the exact duration of the delay vary. Some sources said Kulkarni was stuck for more than five hours [1], while other reports indicate the ordeal lasted six hours [4]. During the peak of the congestion, she remained in a single position for five hours [2].

The gridlock was triggered by a construction mishap on a flyover. Reports differ on the specific equipment involved, citing either a crane collapse [2] or the collapse of a piling rig at a construction site [3, 4].

The accident had fatal consequences. One police constable died in the collapse [3].

Kulkarni used her social media platform to share the distress of the commuters and asked followers to pray for those affected [1]. The incident caused significant delays for thousands of travelers moving between Mumbai and Pune.

“"It was extremely scary"”

This event underscores the high risk associated with ongoing infrastructure projects in Mumbai, where a single equipment failure can paralyze critical arterial roads. The death of a police officer during the collapse suggests a severe safety breach at the construction site, likely triggering further regulatory scrutiny of flyover projects in the region.