Road crash-sparked inferno kills 7

Five bodies charred after van cylinder explosion on Jhang Road

TOBA TEK SINGH:

At least seven people were killed after a gas cylinder exploded in a van that collided with a truck near Pansera on Jhang Road. Twenty other people, including three women and a child, were injured.

Only two of the deceased could be identified immediately because of severe burn injuries.

Rescue workers took out the bodies from the vehicle and handed them over to the police who shifted them to the tehsil headquarters hospital.

The Gojra-Pansera road was closed for some time after the accident as rescue teams from Faisalabad and Gojra doused the fire. Of the injured, 11 were shifted to the Allied Hospital and others to private health facilities in the area.

Local officials said the passenger van was going from Dharmapura stop in Gojra towards Pansera when it rammed into the truck going in the same direction.

The officials said it appeared that the truck driver might have dosed off.

After the accident, the cylinder in the van burst with a loud explosion and a fire broke out that engulfed six passengers sitting in the van and one person travelling on the truck.

The two victims identified were Muhammad Akram and Dastgir, residents of the 46GB area.

The five other bodies were not identified and were taken to the Nawan Lahore Hospital by the rescue teams.

Rescue officials said the injured included 50-year-old Shahzad, a 45-year-old son of Sultan, 17-year-old Sulaiman, 65-year-old Afzal, Sabir, 46-year-old Iftikhar of Gojra, Babra Yasmin and Basharat.

Also read: 14 killed in Punjab road accidents

According to rescue service sources, two people died in the accident due to head injuries.

Rescue teams retrieved four charred bodies from the van and one from the mini-truck.

Caretaker Punjab Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi sought a report on the accident from the Faisalabad commissioner and regional police officer.

Motorcyclists cautioned

After a detailed review of the data of accidents reported during the Eid holidays, Rescue 1122 Director General Dr Rizwan Naseer requested motorbike drivers to adopt road safety measures and reduce their speed limit to 50 kilometres per hour.

They should follow the traffic laws and always drive in the extreme left lane, he added while presiding over a meeting in Lahore.

He also appealed to the parents that they should never allow their underage children to drive a motorbike or car.

The participants were informed that at least 83 people had died in road traffic crashes during the holidays.

According to the data compiled by Rescue 1122, a total of 26,939 emergencies were reported in the province during the five holidays, of which 8,305 were road crashes, 14,994 medical emergencies with 533 deaths, 765 crime incidents, 569 fire emergencies, 623 delivery emergencies, 559 falls and slipping cases, 965 miscellaneous emergencies and 159 animal rescue operations.

The district emergency officers shared that the highest number of emergencies had taken place in Lahore, where they numbered 14,837, while the lowest number had been reported from Murree.