Driver and helper burnt alive in Balodabazar
Balodabazar. The driver and helper died after a petrol-diesel tanker collided with a trailer near Gonda culvert and caught fire. The loss in the accident has been estimated to be around Rs 50 lakh. A heart-wrenching accident took place on Saturday night in Palari police station area. A fuel tanker full of petrol-diesel going from Raipur to Janjgir-Champa collided with a damaged trailer standing on the road without any indicator.
In this accident, tanker driver Chhedi Patel (58 years) and helper Kanha Vaishnav (22 years) died on the spot. The tanker was filled with about 20,000 liters of petrol-diesel.
The accident took place near Gonda culvert at around 9 pm. The tanker caught fire as soon as it collided with the trailer, which became uncontrollable in no time. Due to the intensity of the fire, the driver and helper were trapped in the cabin and could not get out. People present at the spot at the time of the incident said that the fire was so terrible that no one could dare to go near the tanker for fear of a possible explosion. On receiving information about the incident, fire brigade and police team reached the spot. It took about three hours of effort to extinguish the fire. When the fire was brought under control, the burnt bones of both the deceased were recovered from inside the tanker.
During the incident, the police advised people to be cautious and informed people to use alternative routes to continue their journey away from the spot. However, after this incident, passengers remained stuck in traffic jam till late night. During investigation after controlling the fire, the driver-helper was found trapped in a burnt condition in the tanker. However, the police is investigating the entire matter as to how this accident happened.
