Fire on the Super Highway: Road accident kills two, burns 29 vehicles

Blaze erupts as tanker loaded with chemicals loses control and crashes

KARACHI: National Highway Authority’s (NHA) ineptitude in dealing with any road accident on the highway once again came to the fore when two people died and 29 vehicles were burnt in a major road accident on the main Super Highway early Wednesday morning.

The accident took place on the track going from Karachi towards Hyderabad.

According to the Motorway police spokesperson, the tyre of a tanker loaded with chemicals burst due to which it lost control and overturned, sparking a deadly blaze at around 6:30am, some 54 kilometres from the start of Super Highway near DHA City.

A total 29 vehicles, including the one carrying the chemicals, were burnt. The official said that an Alto car behind the chemicals-laden tanker immediately caught fire killing its two occupants. Apart from that, he said, two trailers and two other tankers also caught fire. According to him, a total seven vehicles, including another trailer that was carrying 22 brand new cars, were all burnt down.

Traffic jam

The accident led to a massive traffic jam for seven hours as several cars, including large trucks, piled up on both tracks of the Super Highway. Several vehicles ran out of fuel and families heading towards Hyderabad and Karachi were left on their own. The diversions according to the motorway police were given from Gulshan-e-Hadeed, Khatore via National Highway, through Link Road towards Thatta.

Ineptitude

The Motorway police reached the accident site shortly after the incident, claimed a spokesperson. However, he said fire brigades took more than an hour to reach the site due to the severe traffic jam.

Heavy shovels and other vehicles were brought from the nearby DHA City, he said, adding that all the burnt vehicles were removed from the highway by around 4pm.

He pointed out that the Motorway police does not have any facility to deal with such situations. “There should be a fire station, ambulances and bomb disposal squads along with the Motorway police [on the highway],” he said, adding that when incidents of such nature occur, the rescue teams are brought from the city, which naturally takes a while. “Apart from the Motorway police, there is no other rescue organisation present at Super Highway,” he said.

The Motorway police tried to pass on the blame of the traffic situation on the under-construction Karachi-Hyderabad motorway. The spokesperson said the Super Highway has already been narrowed down and has become very prone to such accidents. He added that it is the responsibility of the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) to deploy rescue vehicles at the Super Highway.

Meanwhile, an FWO official requesting anonymity pointed out that they are currently constructing the motorway five kilometres from DHA City while the incident happened before DHA City.

Meanwhile, no official of the NHA was available for comments. NHA collects toll tax and are responsible for facilitating commuters with rescue services.

On the other hand, Karachi Metropolitan Corporation disaster management cell director Raza Abbas Rizvi said they got to know about the incident at 7:15am and reached the spot by 8:05am. The fire brigades were moved from their station at Sohrab Goth but could not reach on time due to intense traffic jam, he said.

According to him, they have 21 fire stations in the city, which have to cover the entire Super Highway up till Dumba Goth and all the coastal areas as well. NHA should have its own fire stations on the highways, he suggested.

Traffic engineer Ashar Lodhi said that there should be at least three to four emergency evacuation centres along the stretch of the 134-kilometre Karachi- Hyderabad road to minimise losses in such situations in the future.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 8^th, 2016.