Four of 10 people killed in a gas cylinder explosion caused by a collision between a passenger van and a truck near Gujranwala on Sunday night are yet to be identified, while the bodies of four members of a family have been sent to Mansehra for burial.
The two other victims, 31-year-old Iram Qaiser and her seven-year-old son Shehryar, were identified overnight. The woman was pregnant and was coming to her mother’s home in Ferozwala area of Gujranwala for childbirth.
Edhi ambulances took the bodies of 60-year-old Sadiq, father of Abbas, and his two grandsons, two-year-old Saeem and three-year-old Saad, and daughter-in-law Amna Abbas to Mansehra. They were coming from Mansehra to Gujranwala in the van.
A fire broke out in the van due to gas leakage after the accident, leaving at least 10 people dead and seven others injured. The deceased include three children and two women.
Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar sought a report about the accident from the commissioner and regional police officer of Gujranwala.
The accident took place on GT Road near Shahkot in the limits of Rahwali police station. A liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinder was installed at the rear of the van coming from Rawalpindi to Gujranwala.
According to local rescue service in-charge Anjum Shehzad, a truck carrying milk hit the passenger van from the rear, causing gas leakage, following which a fire broke out because of short circuit.
Most of the victims died on the spot. Rescue teams reached the spot and shifted the injured to hospital.
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The GT Road was blocked and a large contingent of police was deployed to handle the situation. Deputy Commissioner Sohail Khawaja supervised the rescue operation and declared an emergency in the local hospitals. Medical Superintendent Dr Fazlur Rehman deputed a team of doctors to treat the injured people.
According to the rescue officer, the injured include Qaisar, 30, Hidayatullah, 26, Salahuddin, 29, Gul Badin, 30, Kamran, 19, Aurangzeb, 30, and Basharat, 30.
Four other people who had lost their lives in the accident could not be identified till the evening.
Rescue personnel said that seven people had saved their lives by jumping out of the van after the collision.
Of the passengers who could not get out of the vehicle, 10 died of burn injuries.
The drivers of both vehicles escaped after the accident.
A case was registered in Gujranwala cantonment police station on the complaint of Motorway Police Inspector Zulfiqar.
Eight ambulances and a fire brigade vehicle took part in the rescue operation that continued for several hours.
Cantt Police Station SHO Adnan Ijaz said both vehicles involved in the accident had been impounded.
MS Dr Fazlur Rehman said Qaiser Abbas was under treatment in Gujranwala, while six injured persons had been referred to hospital in Lahore because they are more than 80 per cent burnt. “We do not have a burns unit here,” he added.
Gujranwala Commissioner Zulfiqar Ghuman visited the injured and ordered an operation in the region against the installation of illegal fuel cylinders in vehicles.
Two months ago, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) had directed the Punjab chief secretary and all deputy and assistant commissioners in the province to take action against vehicles having LPG cylinders and the factories producing them without permits issued by the government. However, no major action was taken against the practice. Motorway Police Additional IG Syed Wisal Fakhr also visited the accident site.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 10th, 2021.
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