Around 170 school students, returning from a picnic, were stranded on Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway leading Thane's Ghodbunder Road for nearly six hours on Tuesday night due to a severe traffic jam, sources said.

The incident led to panic for parents of the children, aged between 10 and 15 who were travelling in four school buses from a Dadar-based school after a day trip to a resort in Palghar.