In a tragic incident, three people were killed when a tanker exploded while being heated to empty asphalt from a vehicle at a plant near Vadodara in Gujarat on Sunday evening, police said.
The incident occurred in Mokshi village, located in Savli taluka of Vadodara district, according to officials from the Bhadarwa police station. The explosion happened while workers were trying to transfer residual asphalt from a tanker into barrels by applying heat.
Gas pressure led to explosion
“The tanker was being heated to remove the stuck asphalt. During this process, the gas pressure inside the tanker increased, leading to an explosion,” a police official explained. The blast proved fatal for three people who were standing nearby.
The victims included the driver and cleaner of the vehicle, along with a labourer, police said. They were identified as Armaan Ziaullah (26), a resident of Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Ashok Gurjar (21), from Alwar, Rajasthan and Shakib Akhtar Khan (33), a resident of Vadodara, Gujarat.
The bodies were shifted to a hospital in Vadodara for post-mortem examination.
Seven injured in oil tanker collision in Assam
Last week in another incident involving an oil tanker seven people were left injured in Assam’s Sonitpur district, officials said. The accident occurred at Depota Na-Ali in Tezpur, along National Highway 15, when the oil tanker was travelling from Dhekiajuli towards Tezpur.
According to an official, the SUV-pickup van, which was carrying vegetables and fish, was approaching from the opposite direction when it collided with the tanker. “All seven people, including the driver of the pickup van, sustained serious injuries and were rushed to Tezpur Medical College and Hospital for treatment,” the official said.
(With PTI inputs)
