Survivors of Friday night’s LPG tanker blaze that occurred at Mandiala village on the Hoshiarpur-Jalandhar road are still reeling under the impact of the tragedy even as the district administration has initiated an inquiry into the incident that left two people dead and 21 injured, 15 of them critically.
A collision between the gas tanker and a pickup truck sparked off a massive explosion around 10pm, engulfing at least 30 shops and 20 houses, trapping villagers, many of them asleep, leaving little time to escape.
On Saturday, villagers held a dharna near the accident site against the gas agency officials, alleging that they did not provide emergency help to the fire victims after the tanker blast. “The damage could have been much more had the tanker gone up in flames near the Hindustan Petroleum bottling plant, which was just a kilometre away. The government should fix the responsibility of the gas agency contractor,” said Mandiala sarpanch Sukhwant Singh.
He was all praise for the firefighters and volunteers who put their own lives at risk to rescue the trapped villagers.
Amarjit Kaur, whose husband and four family members were injured in the blast, said it was not possible to escape as there was fire and smoke all around. “We could not see anything. Everything happened so fast that we were at a loss to understand what to do and where to run,” she said.
Another survivor, Raghav, said that his family was awake when the blast took place yet they had no time to escape. His mother, Sukhjit Kaur, sustained severe burns.
Sharing his harrowing experience, another survivor Harbans Lal said that he and his family was woken up by the sound of the blast. “We were confused as to what had happened. Then smoke entered out house, followed by fire. We ran out. My family escaped with minor burns but I got trapped in the room and burnt my legs,” he said.
An elderly man sleeping in a room next to his medical store was charred to death. He was identified as Balwant Rai. The other deceased had been burnt beyond recognition.
Seven of the critical patients are undergoing treatment at Hoshiarpur civil hospital and eight at a private specialty hospital. The other injured are admitted to private hospitals in Hoshiarpur and Adampur.
Hoshiarpur deputy commissioner Ashika Jain said that all injured would be provided treatment at government expense.
She said officials of Hindustan Petroleum bottling plant at Mandiala have been called for the inquiry. She said that the tanker was carrying LPG from the plant but it was yet to be confirmed where it was headed to.
Baljit Singh whose hardware shop was gutted, claimed that he had suffered loss running into several lakhs. He said it was not possible to re-establish business without government help.
Local NGO Guru Ramdass Ji Langar Sewa Society, Purhiran, which provides meals daily to patients in hospitals across Hoshiarpur, has started a free kitchen for the fire-affected families.
The victims have demanded compensation from the government.