By IANS
Mumbai : The Mumbai traffic police have urged parents and school managements to avoid using private vehicles for transporting children after four children were burnt to death Monday when a van caught fire.
The fire in the van, run on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), remained unexplained, and experts from two major oil and gas marketing corporations joined investigations Tuesday.
The traffic department of the Mumbai police has been constantly warning school principals and parents about the dangers of hiring private mini-vans fitted with LPG cylinders, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Vijay Kamble told IANS Tuesday.
A Maruti van ferrying 11 tiny tots of the Millat School in Jogeshwari, northwestern suburb of Mumbai, suddenly caught fire charring four kids fatally and injuring seven others.
Two girls, Madiya Hindani and Hadika Shaikh and a boy, Zubair Kuradiya, were killed while the fourth child which died was not identified.
The van was fitted with an LPG cylinder. When driver Rafiq Qureshi switched on the ignition, the vehicle burst into flames indicating gas leakage.
The driver, who miraculously escaped unscathed, has been arrested, investigating officer Dattatray Sankhe said. The van’s owner was also detained for interrogation.
A team Of forensic experts from Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) visited the accident spot and examined the vehicle.
Raghuveer Singh, managing director of Dashmeesh CNG & LPG Private Ltd, said: “The van probably caught fire as there was a leak in the tank leading to a short circuit when the ignition was turned on.”
Experts said the tank had remained intact as all the gas leaked out leaving it empty.
Sakina, mother of one of the injured, said she and other parents had been sending their kids in the private vehicle, as it was much faster than school buses. “School buses cannot come into narrow lanes and thus drop the kids on the main road,” she said.
However, Kamble said most private vans in the city ply without necessary documents and the traffic department has lodged several cases against them.
“In the year 2007, 500 private vehicles ferrying school children were caught without valid documents and were fined Rs.1,000 each,” he said.
The traffic department had written to many schools requesting them to ferry students in school buses and stop the practice of employing private vehicles.
“All that the traffic department can do in such cases of violations is penalize such vehicles owners or ask the RTO to cancel the vehicle’s registration. It is up to the parents and school authorities to learn a lesson from this incident.