Jaipur gas tanker explosion: ‘Men, women scampering with clothes on fire; body in polybag,’ recalls eyewitness | Jaipur News – Times of India

JAIPUR: A series of explosions, followed by screams for help. That was what Zeeshan, sleeping behind the shutters of a transport company on the highway, woke up to on Friday morning. “The building reverberated, and then smoke and fire billowed on the highway,” he said, visibly shaken by the experience.
Balram, another eyewitness, awoke to a surreal and horrifying sight. “I saw 3-4 people, including two women, running. Their clothes were on fire,” he said, describing the flames that consumed a transport company office and farmland. The fire spread with terrifying speed engulfing over 40 vehicles and leaving many chance for those inside to escape.
A large passenger coach bus became a fiery inferno as locals and onlookers watched in horror. Thick smoke rose into the sky, and panicked crowds scrambled for safety. The flames from the tanker explosion were so intense that even several birds were burned.
“No one knew what was happening,” said Arvind Singh, a bus conductor. Singh’s bus was trailing a truck when it collided with a tanker, triggering the initial explosion.
“Gas leaked after the crash. Our bus wouldn’t start despite the driver’s attempts to turn the ignition on,” Singh said. Acting on impulse, Singh helpd 4-5 passengers on board.
At a nearby petrol station, a parked truck went up in smoke, but station’s staff helped extinguish the blaze. “Our team’s regular fire control training paid off. If the tyres had caught fire, the entire station would have been engulfed,” said Sandeep Singh Rathore, the pump owner.
The scale of the tragedy was overwhelming. Firefighters Narendra Singh and Ramesh Poonia, among the first responders, said truck and tanker drivers were burned beyond recognition.
Geeta Ram Gurjar, an ambulance driver, said he never witnessed such devastation. “There was a pile of smouldering vehicles on the road,” he said. The heat from the fire led to a bike exploding, severely injuring a motorist. One body was brought to the hospital in a small polybag.
Police officers were stunned by the destruction. At some point, we simply stopped counting, a constable said.