KARACHI: Two persons travelling in a car were burnt alive and a third person was seriously injuries when an oil tanker caught fire on the Superhighway on Wednesday morning, setting over two dozen vehicles on fire, officials and witnesses said.
They said a tanker carrying 40,000 litres of oil from Keamari was on its way to Hyderabad when it caught fire after hitting a car and a car carrier on the highway, some 54 kilometres from Karachi near under-construction DHA City.
The incident occurred at around 6am. By the time, rescue officials reached there, two men, one stated to be a senior government official, travelling in the car were burnt to death while a third one was rescued in injured condition and sent to hospital. Four other persons also sustained minor wounds and they were discharged after first medical aid at a nearby Edhi dispensary and a private hospital.
At least 25 vehicles were burnt or damaged in the incident.
Different versions
DIG-motorway police Dr Waliullah Dal told the media on the occasion that the tragedy occurred when a tyre of the oil tanker burst on the highway. The tanker went out of control of the driver and hit a vehicle coming from behind, triggering a fire that engulfed other vehicles. The DIG said there was also an “engineering fault” at the place of the incident where accidents occurred often.
Traffic suspended on the Superhighway for hours
However, Gadap City SHO Khan Nawaz,in whose jurisdiction the incident occurred, told Media that the oil tanker could not climb a steep incline called Ghausia Charahi because of “some fault” and reversed as its brake malfunctioned, hitting another vehicle that caused the accident. He said it was an early morning incident and the tanker driver escaped.
The SHO said the tanker was carrying around 40,000 litres of oil from the PSO terminal in Keamari and was on its way to Hyderabad.
The officer said two persons travelling in the car died while the third one was injured. He identified the dead as Hadi Bakhsh and Niaz Husain and the injured as Faqir Mohammed, who was admitted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for treatment.
A witness told the media on the spot that the tanker had stopped at the incline owing to some technical fault. The oil tanker driver was pushing it from behind to start it when it reversed.
The Gadap SHO said that at least 25 vehicles were burnt or damaged in the incident. The burnt vehicles included 16 cars, which were being carried on a car carrier. Two tankers carrying textile chemicals and belonging to the Sajjad Goods Transport were also damaged. “Mercifully the tankers did not explode, otherwise the tragedy would have been more horrific,” said an official.
One track of the highway leading to Hyderabad was closed for traffic. Machinery was called to remove the tankers carrying chemicals to the safe side.
“The stretch of the highway was closed for traffic to prevent any loss of life arising out of possible explosions of the tankers,” said a spokesperson of the motorway police.
An employee of the Sajjad Goods Transport told the media that the tankers were emptied of the chemicals to avert an explosion. He estimated that they had suffered losses amounting to Rs30 million in the accident.
The highway tragedy once again highlighted the lack of coordination among rescue institutions.
A senior official of the KMC’s department of disaster management, Raza Rizvi, in his statement on social media said that they were facing “difficulties” in getting access to the site of the incident to send fire tenders there due to blockade of the both tracks. He said the other track coming to Karachi was also blocked due to parking of ambulances on it.
On Wednesday afternoon, the motorway police spokesperson stated that both damaged and burnt vehicles had been removed from the spot and the highway had been opened to traffic. The officer said that in one hour around 25,000 vehicles passes on the highway.
Both tracks of the highway remained “disturbed” owing to the construction of Motorway-9 as the middle of the road had narrowed, causing traffic management problems.
The motorway police official suggested that the presence of rescue services such as fire tenders and civil defense were needed on the highway at different places such as Nooriabad and Toll Plaza to meet any eventuality there on time.
