Ignorance of safety and ignorance in general - That is Pakistan defined.

Beautiful life cut short....God give strength to families. Someone should be held accountable.

This is insane. Why are we killing our children? Gas cylinders in public transport should be banned as they are not safety compliant. Where is the regulator? sleeping i guess.

such a heart wrecking news. May Allah give solace to the parents of the innocent souls. Who to blame for this unfortunate incident, the school administration, the driver, or the system? The school transport in charge must be taken to task for the irrecoverable loss due to his/her negligence.

This is so unfortunated n heart rendering incident, parents should ensure the safety of their kids n before hiring a van service the driver should be asked to show license of fitnesss, as we have no regulatory body to implement and ensure safety measures we should take some tasks in our hands too.

All such incidents are being taken place just due to the apathy of our rulers. A simple solution to impeded such unfortunate incidents is to ban the installation of CNG cylinders in buses, vans and even in cars as well. But the apparent issue, due to which our concerned government departments have been dredging their feet from doing so, was that they are getting hefty bribes from CNG owners to remain silent over the issue.

@khan: You asked who to blame. The answer is: the school, the government, and the people. Most important is the people, because it is their fault to elect such governments who cannot do the job that they are elected to do . . democracy Pakistani style.

@imtiaz: Very true . . ignorance, lack of responsibility, failed system. Living in Pakistan is like playing with fire. Some one once said, "If you have seen Pakistan, you have pretty good idea how the hell is going to look like."

Nation on a Slipping Slope Todays news about a school van in Gujrat ,Pakistan exploded due to dodgy fitted gas cylinder's explosion caused a death of 17 children and injured many show the state of affairs in the country.I have been amazed that within this month I have heard more than five accidents of this nature, but I have not heard that the authorities have done anything to prevent this happening again and again. People can cry their eyes out,abuse their heart content,but it will not change the situation.The stupidity in the system run by the incompetent people in the field of politics,judiciary,establishment with a label of democracy among the level of intellect which the people have been forced to remain in is laughable and so much so that Imran khan with all his team around him lacked the importance of "Health & Safety" issues that they were using fork lift,which is used in shifting the goods in factories and warehouses was used to transport him.This fork lift is also used by Police in Pakistan to remove wrongly parked cars over the heads of public.Which could result nasty accidents. This a subject I could write pages and pages,but here I would like to appeal to the concerned people in the government and the people in the media to highlight this issue of using gas in automobiles is a travelling bomb.It should be banned until they can be professionally fitted by qualified department.For the time being it would save a lot of lives as well as save the energy which can be used for better purposes.

17 children died, we will bring reforms into action so this kind of incident does not happen again said NO PAKISTANI REFORMER ever ..

Why? Why? Why don't we ever learn to walk the straight line? The loss of these children is not to be taken lightly; ask the parents. And heads in the ownership of the van, importer of the cylinders, police and transport departments must roll. Who knows, one of the children would have grown up to carry out accountability of this nation.This is a national tragedy. May Allah Almighty rest them in Jannatul Firdous. Ameen

@khan: The GOVERNMENT. The government is there to regulate and legislate. Unfortunately the governments in Pakistan are more interested making more money for them selves and are basically incapable of any meaning full governance..

@I am sad: Call your British Masters to investigate this for accountability.

A patriotic British Prime minister cancelled his France trip because for him, the life of a soldier is precious than a trip, that's why they are developed. In our Country, not even a single word from the bloody thieves wearing a political attire....Shame on every single Politician of this Unfortunate country. Shame on you >>>>>>..

@khan: May Allah bless them, but Allah did not burn them. Who is responsible, the Govt. if the driver does not get the fitness certificate, how he will drive the car...Pakistan every corner is full of debilitated debris......

How many more lives should be lost before we decide CNG is unsafe for vehicles. These cylinders are inside the vehicle? and Just like illegal CNG stations, vehicles without safety isolation plates should be illegal and impounded, not driving on the road!!! Enough is Enough. SUI should stop making money through these illegal methods.

Frankly, it's very disappointing that Dawn chooses to present this incredible tragedy as a minor headline, ranking below the horse trading politics of the day.

Explosion in Gujrat school van kills 17 children...My heart never felt so grieved. The death of so many innocents at once is causing pangs of pains in my heart. Very very sad news, my heart is crying for these children who had yet to see the joys and wonders of life. My heartfelt condolences to the unfortunate parents for losing their apples of eyes. I am just thinking of these children who were happy and going home when all of a sudden the blast killed them. May Allah Bless them with Jannatul Firdous. Surely we belong to Allah and to Him shall we return

Explosion in Gujrat school van kills 17 children...My heart never felt so grieved. The death of so many innocents at once is causing pangs of pains in my heart. Very very sad news, my heart is crying for these children who had yet to see the joys and wonders of life. My heartfelt condolences to the unfortunate parents for losing their apples of eyes. I am just thinking of these children who were happy and going home when all of a sudden the blast killed them. May Allah Bless them with Jannatul Firdous. Surely we belong to Allah and to Him shall we return

Shame on dawn news , this should be a top headline. It's on top on NBC bbc. And sad state of affairs that routine dirty politics make the headlines as usual.