KARACHI: Four children, including a girl, sustained burn injuries when a school van caught fire in Orangi Town on Saturday morning, said officials.
The van was carrying several children for a school-cum-seminary when a fire erupted in it at Orangi 7. The incident occurred at 8am. As a result four children received burn injuries.
Orangi Station House Officer Tasawar Jutt told Dawn that the school van had become stuck in the sand and gravel lying on the road apparently kept there for construction of extension of the Sindh Government Qatar Hospital there.
The driver and some children got off the van and tried to push the van when the fire erupted.
The area people rushed to the spot and with the help of water and soil they managed to control the fire and rescue the children.
Initially, the children were taken to a nearby Qatar hospital, which referred them to the Burns Centre of Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi for treatment.
Two of them were discharged after first medical aid, the police and hospital officials said.
Additional police surgeon of the hospital Dr Qarar Ahmed said that the children received between three to five per cent burn injuries.
Dr Ahmed added that two children, Ali Jan, 7, and Ebadul Haseeb, 9, who sustained four and five per cent burns respectively, were admitted at the Burns Centre while Arif Junaid, 6, Eman Arif, 6, were discharged from the hospital.
A fire brigade official said that no one had informed them about the fire incident and added that they had heard that a short circuit had triggered the fire as the van had heated up.
The van’s inner portion was badly damaged in the blaze.
Orangi SHO Tasawar Jutt claimed that the fire erupted due to a short circuit.
He denied the reports that liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) leakage from a cylinder in the van caused the fire. However, witnesses attributed the fire to the leakage from an LPG cylinder.
One witness, Mohammed Aslam, told Dawn that he was taking his daughter to her school in the morning when he saw the driver and the children were trying to take out the van from the gravel where it had stuck.
The witnesses opined that since CNG stations were closed on Saturday, LPG gas was used to run the vehicle.