Too late: 3 firemen suspended for negligence

DASKA: Three fire brigade officials were suspended for negligence by the Daska assistant commissioner on Monday. A passenger van travelling from Gujranwala to Sialkot on Monday caught fire due to an electric short circuit near Daska Chowk. The driver and 12 passengers jumped out of the van and were not injured. The driver called the Fire Brigade but it arrived at the scene after a considerable time. When the fire truck got there, it did not have water in the tank or any other means to put the fire out. It went back to the station to get water and by the time it returned, the vehicle had been completely burnt. The owner of the van Shamshad Ahmad said the vehicle could have been saved if the fire brigade had reached it in time.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2014.