Sheikhupura accident: School van explosion kills 5 teachers, a student

CNG cylinder burst; two teachers, van driver injured.

LAHORE:

Five women teachers and a student were killed after a school van’s CNG cylinder exploded in Sheikhupura district on Wednesday.

The cylinder blew up due to a fire which erupted after the fuel tank of the school van had exploded.

The teachers and the student received severe burns in the accident. Five teachers and the student died on the spot while two teachers and a driver were shifted to the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital Sheikhupura for treatment, police officials said.

The deceased teachers have been identified as Nargis, Fauzia, Parveen, Zeeba Iftikhar and Riffat. The identity of the deceased student remains unknown. The two teachers taken to the hospital are Nusrat Shaheen and Sabiha while the driver has been identified as Javed.

The teachers taught at government elementary school Bohar and were returning to their homes in Farooqabad via the Sacha Sauda-Manawala Road according to their daily routine, police said.

The SHO of police station Sadder Farooqabad, Inspector Saleemullah Niazi, while talking to The Express Tribune, blamed the incident on the driver’s negligence in ascertaining the quality and current condition of the CNG cylinder. He added that a case will be registered against the driver for negligence which cost six people their lives.

A Civil Society Front (CSF) report released in April revealed CNG cylinder explosions had caused as many as 2,000 fatalities last year. This figure, the report maintained, was four times the number of people killed in American drone strikes in 2011.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 3^rd, 2012.