Jaipur tanker blast claims more lives, death toll reaches 19, three patients critical

Jaipur tanker blast: Days after a fire broke out following a collision between a truck and an LPG tanker on Jaipur-Ajmer national highway, it was reported that the death toll has risen to 19. A man admitted at Sawai Man Singh (SMS) hospital, who suffered severe burn injuries in the incident, died on Thursday.

The victim, identified as 28-year-old Lalaram, suffered 60-per cent burn injuries and was on a ventilator for the past few days. His body was moved to the hospital’s mortuary for medical examination.

According to Lalaram’s friend Ramavtar, the deceased was employed as a security guard in an IT company at the Mahindra SEZ. Lalaram got trapped in the fire while he was heading to his work place on a motorcycle. “He had a morning shift that day. He was a resident of Sanganer but had shifted to the Kanota area on the Agra highway sometime ago. He was on a motorcycle when the incident happened,” PTI quoted Ramavtar as saying.

The fatal accident occurred on December 20. The news about the man’s death comes a day after it was reported that 22-year-old Vinita breathed her last in the early hours of Wednesday at SMS hospital. Instead of boarding a train to reach Jaipur, she made a change in plan and decided to take a bus from Udaipur. This change in plans costed her life as the bus she was travelling in was gutted in the fire. Besides Vinita, two others who were wounded in the incident, succumbed to their burn injuries on Wednesday.

Thus, the total number of fatalities in Rajasthan’s tanker blast has gone up to 19. SMS hospital superintendent Dr Sushil Bhati informed news agency PTI about another death on December 26.

Adding, he said, “Currently, 11 people are undergoing treatment at the hospital.” As per PTI report, it is likely that two or three of the injured will be discharged on Thursday. However, three more patients are on ventilator support.

On the day of the incident eleven people died after the collision sparked a massive fireball that transformed the stretch of the highway into an inferno.