Watch: Floodwaters carry away 3,000 LPG cylinders in Maharashtra, videos show people rushing into river to grab them

The monsoon has thrown up many shocking visuals this year, but this one has left people doing a double take.Videos from Maharashtra's Raigad district show LPG cylinders floating down the Patalganga River after floodwaters swept them out of an HPCL bottling plant.

What's even more surprising is that several locals were seen entering the swollen river and trying to pull the cylinders out as they drifted past.The clips have now spread widely across social media.According to officials, the incident happened after heavy rain caused flooding at the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) LPG Bottling Plant in Patalganga, near Panvel. The force of the water washed away around 3,000 LPG cylinders.

Some of them were filled with gas, while others were empty.As the cylinders floated downstream, many people gathered along the riverbanks. In some of the viral videos, a few could be seen wading into the water, trying to retrieve the cylinders despite the fast current.The district administration has strongly advised against doing that.

In a statement, the Raigad district administration said anyone who comes across a cylinder should not keep it or attempt to use it.

Instead, people have been asked to hand it over to HPCL, the nearest authorised HPCL distributor, or deposit it at the Tehsildar's offices in Khalapur or Pen, or at the office of the Sub-Divisional Officer in Pen.Raigad District Collector Kishan Jawale also appealed to residents to stay away from any cylinders found in the river or washed ashore, saying they should not be picked up or taken home under any circumstances.The videos have triggered plenty of discussion online.Many people were simply stunned by the sight of hundreds of gas cylinders bobbing along in a river. Others wondered how floodwaters managed to reach a major LPG bottling facility and carry away such a large number of cylinders.One social media user remarked that after recent worries over LPG supplies because of tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, seeing cylinders floating down a river in Maharashtra wasn't something anyone had on their bingo card.Another user said the public advisory made sense, but argued that the bigger issue was how a plant storing thousands of cylinders was vulnerable to flooding in the first place.Some compared the visuals to scenes from the film Pushpa, while others criticised what they called poor planning and safety measures.Meanwhile, the district administration has continued to repeat one message: don't try to recover the cylinders yourself.The Raigad District Information Office also issued an alert on X, asking anyone who finds a cylinder to immediately inform the authorities or return it through the official channels instead of keeping it.For now, officials are working to trace and recover the missing cylinders. But the viral videos have already turned the incident into one of the most talked-about flood stories of the week - not just because thousands of LPG cylinders ended up in a river, but because so many people were willing to risk their own safety trying to fish them out.