A gas cylinder blast on a Pakistani school bus has killed 16 children and their teacher in the center of the country. The ensuing fire, which injured another seven children, completely destroyed the vehicle.
The wounded children are now being treated at a nearby hospital, and five of them are currently in critical condition.
The minivan was taking the children to a private school in
Gurjat, around 112 kilometers north of the eastern city of Lahore.
The children on board are believed to have been between the ages of
5 and 15. “The fire erupted in the vehicle when the children were
only a few kilometers from their school,” local police chief Dar
Ali Khattak told AFP.
An initial assessment of the accident indicates a short circuit near a leaking gasoline tank was triggered when the dual-fuel vehicle switched from gas to petrol.
It is relatively commonplace in Pakistan for a vehicle to run on
a mixture of petrol and natural gas. The gas is stored in
pressurized containers, leaving it prone to explosions.