TAXILA: At least six people, including women and children, were burnt to death when a passenger van caught fire after being hit by a speeding truck and ramming into a gas supply unit on G.T. Road in Hassanabdal early on Sunday.

Police and rescue officials said the Peshawar-bound van coming from Rawalpindi had stopped at Abbottabad Chowk near the local cadet college to pick passengers.

In the meantime, a recklessly-driven truck rammed into the van and dragged it for about 200 metres till it hit the gas supply unit of the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL) installed on the roadside.

Bodies of victims shifted to hospital for identification through DNA testing

The van got trapped between the truck and the gas supply unit which caught fire.

A cylinder installed in the van also exploded leaving no chance for the passengers to escape.

The rescue operation, which lasted for over four hours, was completed only after the supply line of the gas distribution unit was closed down.

“I was coming back after distributing newspapers at the Cadet College Hassanabdal when around 5:50am I heard a big bang. It was a horrible scene when I reached the site of the incident. Passengers, including women and children, were trapped in the van engulfed in flames.

“They were crying for help,” said Shahid Khan, a newspaper hawker. Zulfiqar Ali, a rickshaw driver, said the recklessly-driven truck overtook his three-wheeler from a wrong side near the bus stand.

“After travelling for about half a furlong, I saw the passenger van engulfed in a fire after being hit and dragged by the truck.”

Asif Khan, 27, said he had boarded his wife on the van and had turned back towards his motorcycle when the speedy truck rammed into it.

Zareen Gul, a cart vendor, said there was no time for rescuers to save the lives of the passengers as the fire engulfed the van within seconds.

District Police Officer (DPO) Attock Zahid Nawaz Marwat, District Coordination Officer (DCO) Rana Akbar Hayat, SSP Motorway Police Najeebur Rehman and other officers supervised the rescue operation.

District Emergency Officer Mian Mohammad Ishfaq said all the six charred bodies were shifted to the mortuary of the POF Hospital in Wah Cantt.

He said the bodies could only be identified through a DNA test.

The DCO said the cleaner of the truck, identified as Mashuq Ali, sustained injuries and was shifted to Pims Islamabad.

He said the truck driver, Kamran, was among the dead.

Meanwhile, expressing grief over the incident, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif directed the authorities concerned to submit him a report.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2017