Driver of ill-fated van says cigarette could have caused the blaze

Police investigators inquiring into the deadly fire incident in a Hi-roof on Friday that claimed nine innocent lives, including women and children, have recorded the statement of the driver of the vehicle, which suggests that the fire had erupted inside the vehicle accidentally.

“I was driving the van when suddenly flames erupted from the engine side where one of the passengers was smoking a cigarette,” said the driver, Ilyas, who was also injured in the incident. “As the flames emerged, I immediately jumped from the van but unluckily, a minor explosion quickly caused the entire van catch fire, trapping the passengers inside.”

Those sitting on the back of the van could not be rescued as its gates were locked from the inside. “I do not know how the gates were locked when the fire erupted and I also do not know what caused the fire but it seems that the fire resulted due to the burning cigarette,” the driver narrated in his video recording to the police.

A total of nine members of an extended family have lost their lives in the tragic incident. Six of them had died on the spot. Five others, who included three children and two men, sustained critical burn injuries. The three children were shifted to the National Institute of Child Health where they passed away on Saturday. The two men, Nasir and Deedar, are being treated at the burns ward of the Civil Hospital, Karachi.

Bilal Colony SHO Muhammad Farzad told The News that the two injured men are in a critical state. He added that the police would register a case if any family member approached them for that but so far the family had refused to lodge any police case.

The incident had taken place near Do-Minute Chowrangi in North Karachi when the van caught fire all of a sudden. Those who died on the spot included two real brothers, three children and a woman. The deceased and the injured were first moved to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for autopsies and treatment; however, the injured were later shifted to various hospitals.

According to witnesses, the fire broke out first in the front end of the vehicle, rapidly spreading to the rear. “The fire was intense and it did not give a chance to anyone in the van to come out of the van to save their lives,” said a witness. “We (the crowd) also attempted to save the people trapped in the van but could not due to the intense heat and flames."

As the driver jumped out of the vehicle, it hit two rickshaws on the road, which also caught fire and were partially damaged.

Initial investigations revealed that the deceased persons belonged to the same family and they were on their way to Zia Colony in Gulshan-e-Iqbal to attend a valima reception from their residence in Taiser Town when the tragic incident occurred. The investigators suspected that a short circuit could have caused the fire as the CNG cylinder installed in the vehicle was found intact.