SUKKUR: A big fire erupted after an oil tanker was hit by a truck along the Township section of the Indus Highway here on Sunday evening destroying a hutment and causing a major power breakdown in the area by engulfing the nearby pole-mounted transformer.

Onlookers and area police said that the truck rammed into the Shikarpur-bound oil tanker from behind, triggering the fire.

The flames swiftly spread all around due to spillage of oil engulfing the nearby hutment along the dyke of a canal and a pole-mounted transformer carrying high-tension lines. Many thatched houses were gutted and the entire area plunged into darkness.

No one living in the hutment was killed or injured but charred remains of a man were retrieved from the totally gutted oil tanker and truck after the fire was doused, local reporters said. The victim was yet to be identified.

The trees standing along the dyke and road were also destroyed.

The blaze erupted after the bowser was hit by a truck from behind

Firefighters rushed to the site and controlled the blaze after hours-long hectic efforts.

Two burnt alive

MIRPURKHAS: Two persons were burnt alive after a long vehicle carrying a bulldozer caught fire and overturned with a big bang in Dhani Bux Sahar village near Naokot town on a road leading to Diplo on Sunday morning.

The bulldozer fell off the trailer and rolled away, onlookers said.

The trailer driver, Rajab Korai, and cleaner, Shakeel Ahmed, were caught in flames and burnt to death, the area police said.

Local residents rushed to the site but could not help the victims.

Firefighters did reach the site but too late. It took them six hours to extinguish the blaze.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2023