THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Three people, including a policeman, were killed and 19 others injured when a tanker lorry carrying 19 tons of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) collided with a car, overturned and exploded in Kerala’s Kollam district Thursday.
Police in the southern Indian state said four people were still battling for life in hospitals here with 100 percent burns and two others with 80 percent burns. The leaping flames engulfed a row of shops, houses and vehicles and killed cattle at Puthantheruvu near Karunagappally some 100 km north of the state capital.
The tanker overturned as the driver applied powerful brake to in his bid to avoid collision, eyewitnesses told local television channels. A police jeep arrived on the scene with rescue efforts is suspected to have ignited the gas leaked from the tanker.
Police said most of the injured were local people who rushed to the spot and tried to douse the flames besides the four people in the car that belonged to a Karunagappally resident.
They identified the deceased as Rasheed, 32, and Biju, 32, both rescue workers belonging to the area who helped to shift the injured to another vehicle and take them to the hospital, and Pradeep, 28, a police constable who was in the jeep.
Among the injured were a sub inspector, an assistant sub-inspector and a constable who were in the jeep that was suspected to have exploded on the spot after igniting the gas leaked from the tanker.
“We are yet to ascertain the reason for the tragedy and the exact damages. I have sought a detailed report from the district administration, police and controller of explosives,” Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan who visited the site said. “We’ll equip the police and firemen to deal with such situations in future”.
One of the rescue workers said he heard a powerful blast and saw flames erupting from the tanker immediately after the police came to inspect the scene of accident started their vehicle. Conditions of two policemen are also critical.
“The volume of the gas stored in the tanker was powerful enough to burn the entire area. It was the timely release of gas through the safety valve that averted a more powerful explosion and bigger tragedy,” Water Resources Minister NK Premachandran said.
Firefighters took seven hours to put down the flames and clear the traffic on the national highway leading to the state capital. Besides the police jeep, 45 motor cycles stocked in one of the shops and two cars parked in the portico of two houses in the neighbourhood were gutted.
The explosion had an impact on a radius of at least 200 meters. People living in nearby areas were evacuated and residents asked to switch off gas supply in their homes.
The tanker came from Mangalore city in the nearby Karnataka state carrying LPG to the Indian Oil Corporation’s refilling plant at Paripally some 52 km away from the spot. It crashed head on with a Maruti WagonR car at 3.50 am leading to the explosion 30 minutes later.
There was again an explosion at 4.35 am, following which the tank continued to burn like a torch. Rescue and fire control operations were directly supervised by the Kollam Collector A Shajahan and the District Superintendent of Police Harshata Ataluri.
Those who are seriously injured are identified as Ashraf, 22, Nasar, 32, and Samad, 44, all local residents, sub-inspector Shukkoor, assistant sub-inspector Philip and police constable Sunil Kumar.
