Flaming tragedy: Seven killed as van’s gas cylinder explodes

Man, wife and three-year-old daughter among those killed; vehicle was en route to Lahore.

LAHORE: Seven people were killed and four injured when a passenger van’s gas cylinder caught fire on Multan Road in Lahore on Monday.

Three members of a family, Tariq Fareed, his wife Sajida Bibi and his three-year-old daughter Kiran, perished in the flames, as well four others, including a three-month-old child and a man identified as Hafeez, a father of six children.

The injured were rushed to the hospital, and were identified as 15-year-old Yasir, 23-year-old Aftab, 75-year-old Sharifan Bibi and 40-year-old Abdul Ghafoor.

According to 13-year-old Sania, Hafeez’s niece who survived the accident, the van was travelling from Okara to Lahore. The explosion occurred when the conductor told the van driver to switch from Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) because the former had run out, she added.

Sania said that she jumped out of the van as soon as it caught fire, but, as the others tried to escape, the fire spread rapidly.

The police reached the spot after the accident and shifted the bodies to the hospital for autopsy. Meanwhile, the condition of one of the injured is said to be critical.

Khalida Bibi, Sania’s mother, said that her daughter, along with Hafeez, were on their way to Lahore from Renala Khurd. Hafeez worked at a bicycle repair workshop in Lahore. Khalida added that Hafeez had six children, including three daughters.

Manga Mandi SHO Mani Muhammad Nauman told The Express Tribune that the fatal mishap occurred due to a gas leakage during the process of shifting the vehicle’s engine from CNG to LPG.

The SHO added that the driver and conducter escaped from the scene as soon as the explosion took place.