KARACHI: Six people, including a couple and their two sons, were burnt to death when the van they were travelling in caught fire in the Garden area on Sunday morning, police and rescuers said.

City SSP Adeel Chandio said that two families were heading towards the Hawkesbay beach for picnic and they made a brief stopover near the Karachi Zoo where the tragedy happened.

He said the exact cause of the fire had not been confirmed.

Garden SHO Ghulam Nabi Afridi explained that families of two brothers, residents of Chandni Chowk in Soldier Bazaar, rented a van to go on picnic on Sunday morning.

Around 11 members of the two families were travelling in the van and they stopped near the zoo to pick a few more relatives of theirs before 7am.

The area SHO said that when the van reached near the Saifi building, the occupants of the vehicle heard some noise from the engine.

Some of them, including children, sitting next to the driver’s seat with the driver got off the vehicle apparently to fix the problem.

CM Murad Ali Shah has ordered an inquiry into the tragic incident

Quoting their statements, the SHO said that they saw CNG gas leaking from the nozzle and the vehicle’s battery caught fire. As they were trying to extinguish the fire by pouring water, the vehicle all of a sudden burst into flames.

As a result, all six persons sitting in the vehicle were burnt to death. Two persons suffered burn injuries while trying to save the lives of their relatives.

“The family members tried to extinguish the fire with water but suddenly the flames engulfed the vehicle in a matter of minutes,” said City SSP Chandio. “The doors of the vehicle got jammed, hence they could not get out.”

Additional Police Surgeon Dr Qarar Abbasi at the Civil Hospital Karachi confirmed that six persons were brought dead to the health facility with 100 per cent burn wounds.

The victims were identified as Muhammad Saleem, 45, his wife, Nelofer, 40, their two-year-old son Abdul Hadi and 14-year-old son Shaharyar, Beenish Muhammad Ali, 45, and her 14-year-old daughter, Mehwish.

The injured were identified as Sheroz, son of deceased Saleem and Mariam, 17, daughter of the deceased Beenish.

Dr Abbasi said the condition of the injured was out of danger.

The driver of the ill-fated van escaped from the scene. However, the police later arrested him and also the owner of the vehicle.

“An FIR would be lodged against the owner, Farhan, under Section 322 (punishment for qatl-bis-sabab: whoever commit qatl-bis-sabab shall be liable to diyat) of the Pakistan Penal Code,” said SSP Chandio. A fire brigade official told Dawn that they received information about the incident at around 7am and soon after a fire tender was sent, but by the time it reached there angry people gathered there and they pelted the fire tender with stones. As a result the firemen came back without inspecting the vehicle, he added.

He said since they were not allowed access to the burnt vehicle they could not say anything about the exact cause of the fire.

CM orders inquiry

Taking notice of the death of six persons, Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah ordered an inquiry and directed Transport Minister Nasir Shah to set up a committee to ascertain if the van was fit for transport.

The inquiry team had been tasked to ascertain whether the driver was under the influence of any narcotics and whether it was his fault or the tragedy occurred because of the ‘defective’ vehicle.

“I want an initial report of the incident within two days and a detailed inquiry report about it within one week,” said CM Shah, while expressing sympathy with the grieving family.

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2017