GUJAR KHAN, March 30: Two persons were seriously burnt when their tanker carrying crude oil caught fire and exploded near Murid railway crossing on Mandra-Chakwal Road about 18kms from here.

The fire spread so rapidly that it engulfed the nearby market, house, railway track and a number of trees within no time. However the shopkeepers and bystanders miraculously remained unhurt.

According to witnesses, the oil tanker of the National Logistics Cell (NLC), transporting crude oil from Adhi oilfields, stopped in front of a market at about 11:15am Friday morning.

Raja Zafar Iqbal, the owner of the market, told Dawn that he saw the helper of the tanker’s driver trying to tighten the valve from where the crude oil was leaking. Suddenly the tanker caught fire.

Mr Iqbal said, on seeing the fire engulfing the oil tanker, he jumped from the roof of the market and alerted people present there to run for their lives.

The tanker soon exploded and the fire spread to the market, consisting of 10 shops, railway track, a beverage store and trees.

Mr Iqbal said the fire brigade of Gujar Khan municipal administration was informed at 11:25am who reached there without wasting any time. But the old fire engine of the TMA was not enough to extinguish the fire.