Truck carrying LPG cylinders catches fire after collision on Jaipur-Ajmer highway

A truck carrying LPG cylinders caught fire following a collision with a tanker on the Jaipur-Ajmer highway on Tuesday night in Rajasthan, police said.

The collision triggered multiple explosions as the gas cylinders began to burst. Some exploded cylinders were seen several meters away from the spot. Flames and explosions were visible and audible from several kilometres away.

IG Jaipur Rahul Prakash said that two to three persons, including the tanker driver, were injured in the incident.

CMHO Jaipur-I Ravi Shekhawat said that as per the initial information, the driver of the offending vehicle was taken to a nearby hospital for primary treatment. 

Deputy Chief Minister Prem Chand Bairwa, who reached the spot on Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma's directions, said that the situation was under control and no casualties had been reported yet.

Police officers and fire brigades reached the site near the Dudu area, and traffic on the highway was halted.

Bairwa told the reporters that drivers and cleaners of the trucks were missing. The police and administration are trying to locate them.

"There is no information on the casualty yet," he said.

Senior police and district administrations are also present at the spot.

CMHO Shekhawat said that all the arrangements have been made in SMS hospital. However, no injured people have been brought to the hospital so far.

"As per the initial information, one man was given primary treatment in a hospital in Dudu," he said.

Meanwhile, eyewitnesses said that the truck transporting LPG cylinders was parked outside a roadside hotel and its driver had gone for a meal. 

"A tanker hit the truck carrying LPG cylinders from behind. The driver of the tanker was taken to a nearby hospital with injuries," Vinod, an eyewitness, told reporters.

In December last year, an LPG tanker collided with a truck near Bhankrota in Jaipur on the same highway, sparking a massive fireball that turned a stretch of the highway into an inferno, killing 19 people.

PTI