Death toll in Jaipur highway explosion goes up to 14 after two succumb to injuries

“It was dark when it happened and it was difficult to see what was happening. But later we came to know an LPG tanker had collided with a truck,” Manish Gupta, the Station House Officer of Bhankrota Police Station, had said on Friday “There were so many vehicles that by the time we brought one under control, the others had already caught on fire. All damaged vehicles have been cleared from the road but it hasn’t been opened to traffic. The route will be opened late night.”

Rescue operation underway after an LPG tanker collided with multiple vehicles on the Jaipur-Ajmer Highway on Friday. (PTI Photo)

Eyewitnesses had told The Indian Express that the explosion could be heard for miles.

Of those deceased, four were brought dead but were so badly burnt that they could not be identified, officials said. Most of the vehicles involved in the accident belonged to Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Haryana.

Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma and Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra visited the wounded at the two hospitals. In a post on X, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh for the families of the dead and Rs 50,000 for the injured from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund.