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

Explosion occurred when conductor told driver to switch from CNG to LPG because the former had run out.

LAHORE:

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

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

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.

Manga Mandi SHO Mani Muhammad Nauman told The Express Tribune that the fatal accident occurred due to a gas leak 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.

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

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27^th, 2012.