‘She ran out in flames’: As LPG tanker explosion claims its 18th victim, tales of pain from Jaipur hospital
The incident occurred after a truck collided with an LPG tanker causing a massive explosion and fire. Five people are still stated to be in a critical condition.
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According to Pradeep Sharma, the assistant superintendent of SMS Hospital, Pradeep Sharma, burns caused by LPG explosions are usually severe and patients “sometimes do not respond”.Vijita Meena (22) was on fire and still running when a bystander helped put out her flames, her father Ramachandra Meena told The Indian Express. On Wednesday, Vijita became the 18th victim of the deadly truck-gas tanker collision on the Jaipur-Ajmer highway after she died at Jaipur’s Sawai Man Singh Hospital.
The incident occurred after a truck collided with an LPG tanker at 5:30 am, causing a massive explosion and fire. Five people are still stated to be in a critical condition.
Vijita, who was doing her B.Ed. from L LBS Mahila TT College, was on her way home when the blast occurred. She suffered from 70 percent burns in the accident and died at 4 am on Wednesday.
She was among the three who died at the hospital Wednesday.
“She borrowed his (the bystander’s) phone to call and tell us to come to Jaipur immediately. We have been with her since,” Meena, who’s now taking Vijita’s body back home to Pratapgarh, told The Indian Express.
According to Pradeep Sharma, the assistant superintendent of SMS Hospital, Pradeep Sharma, burns caused by LPG explosions are usually severe and patients “sometimes do not respond”.
“Five more patients are in a critical condition, and we are constantly monitoring the patients but the burns are severe,” he said.
For families of the victims, its days of pain and anguish. Mahendra (24) was on his way to Ajmer when the accident occurred, his family said. An employee with a car dealer in Jaipur, he had succumbed to his burns hours after the accident.
He’s survived by his parents and three sisters.
“We got a call from the hospital authorities at 3 pm that day, and left for Jaipur,” his uncle Madho Ram said. “His parents couldn’t identify him. He was so badly burnt.”
Like Vijita, it was 33-year-old Shahbuddin who called home to tell his family of the blast. A resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly, Shahbuddin died hours later.
“He called us to say that he had been completely burnt. He was supplying manufactured products from Ahmedabad to Jaipur and asked us to inform the owner that the vehicle was damaged in the blast,” Jibrael told The Indian Express, adding that the family now hopes for the Rs 2 lakh ex-gratia that Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to the next of kin of those who died in the blast.
The police, meanwhile, are questioning the driver of the tanker to get a clearer picture of what happened that day. “The driver was somehow able to save his life,” DCP West Amit Budaniya said.
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