Two die, two more hurt as bus tank explodes

The minibus was being refuelled when the gas cylinder blew up.

KARACHI: Two men died and two more were injured when the gas tank of a CNG bus exploded on Abul Hassan Isphahani Road on Sunday.

The bus had pulled up at a CNG station and was being refuelled when the tank exploded.

The blast was so intense that it caused damage to two more buses and a rickshaw that were queued up behind it. The windowpanes of several other vehicles and nearby buildings were also shattered.

Over a dozen passengers were onboard the bus of route No. G-17 when the explosion occurred at 9:44am, according to Mobina Town police. The police, Rangers and rescue volunteers arrived at the site and shifted the victims to the nearby Patel Hospital. They were later taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

One of the deceased was identified as 40-year-old Ayub Hanif, who lived near Shafiq Morr in Buffer Zone and worked as a labourer. Rickshaw driver, Ayaz, whose condition was stated to be critical when he was taken to the hospital, succumbed to his injuries later.

Bilal and Yousuf were injured. The bus driver and the cleaner managed to escape after the blast, said SHO Saleemullah Qureshi. The police are considering registering the case against the bus owner and its driver and the CNG kits suppliers and inspectors. “Thankfully, the CNG compressor installed at the refuelling station remained safe, otherwise the extent of the damage would have been higher and a lot more lives may have been lost,” he said.

The explosion happened due to an outdated gas cylinder fitted in the minibus, police said. A case (FIR No. 480/12) under sections 319, 427, 337A/34 has been registered against the bus driver and the conductor on behalf of the state.

Despite a ban on the use of CNG in public buses, almost all transporters have converted their vehicles to run on the cheaper fuel option. In 2011, more than 2,000 people died across the country in CNG cylinder explosions, according to a report released by a non-governmental organisation, Civil Society Front in April this year. In September, a boy was killed and several other passengers were injured in a similar blast in Karachi. As per ISO-9000 certified quality act, the annual or bi-annual inspection of CNG kits is compulsory.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 19^th, 2012.