Daijiworld Media Network - Beltangady (DV)

Beltangady, Jun 24: A tanker carrying diesel from Mangaluru to Chikkamagaluru went up in flames after it veered off the road and hit an electric pole at Laila here on Wednesday June 24.

The tanker driver and the cleaner had a lucky escape as the tanker almost immediately caught fire after hitting the pole.

It is learnt that another lorry driver was taking reverse from a road that branches off to the left. A bike rider who was in front of the tanker, on seeing the lorry going reverse, took a sudden right, and in order to avoid hitting the bike, the tanker driver veered off to the extreme right and hit an electric pole in the process. The tanker, which was said to be moving at a high speed, fell over and caught fire.

The tanker driver and cleaner, broke the glass of the tanker and managed to escape.

At the same time, two bike riders, one who was in front and the other behind the tanker, fearing gas leakage and explosion, left their bikes on the road and ran for their lives.

The fire service was informed, but as it had to come from Guruvayankere, it arrived late due to traffic, sources said. It is alleged that the public did not cooperate when the fire tenders were passing through the traffic.

Two fire tenders finally reached the spot, and after some effort, the fire was doused. No fuel leakage was reported. 

Tanker accident blocks traffic, people try to benefit

Fire brigade personnel from Guruvayanakere have come in for lavish praise for their timely preemptive action in stopping the tanker accident near Laila bridge from turning into a major tragedy.

It is said that the tanker caught fire because of friction among electricity cables which fell down along with two electric poles, thus igniting fire. The tanker turned into a fireball within minutes.

After the first fire tender failed to contain fire, another vehicle was summoned. Although they were not equipped with special gear, fire personnel fought against deadly fire and contained it within 15 minutes. While almost the entire tanker was burnt down, no explosion occurred. The fire brigade personnel had even succeeded in saving 8,000 litres of diesel and 4,000 litres of petrol the tanker was carrying to Ujire from Mangaluru.

Power supply in the region was disrupted as the electric poles got uprooted. Traffic on the highway remained disrupted for long as the traffic had been suspended on highway right after this accident. It was allowed to resume after the fire was completely doused, and electric cables and poles were cleared from the road. The vehicles, which had formed long line extending to several kilometres on both sides, rushed ahead to make up for the loss of time as soon as they were cleared for moving ahead. This created further chaos, which continued to affect movement of vehicles till 10 pm.

People living in nearby houses had turned panicky, as the accident perhaps reminded them of Perne tragedy, and ran away from their hoses after the accident. However, hundreds of people who gathered at the spot were seen capturing the scene on their cell phones.

Even after the fire was extinguished, the fire tenders continued to spray water on the vehicle for three hours in an attempt to ensure that the fuel in the tanker does not catch fire. Thereafter, attempt was made to save petrol and diesel by pumping it to another vehicle. As this effort failed, the fuel was allowed to drain onto the ground, after which the vehicle was lifted out of the spot. During this period the fuel was being emptied, a large number of people rushed in with containers and barrels of different sizes and shapes in hand to collect the draining fuel.

District fire officer, Parameshwar, fire station in-charge, Clevis D'Souza, Beltangady tahsildar, B S Puttaswamy, Mescom assistant executive engineer, Ramachandra, assistant engineer, Shivashankar, sub-inspectors of police, Madhava Koodlu and Chandrashekhar, were among those who got involved with the operation at the accident spot.