Driver charred to death after truck catches fire

Our Correspondent

Payal, April 20

In a tragic incident, a truck driver was charred to death after the front cabin of the vehicle parked in front of a petrol station at Bija near here caught fire about 3.30 am on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.

Though the exact reason behind the incident is yet to be ascertained, it is suspected that the fire was caused either due to a short-circuit in wiring of the vehicle or probable smoking by the deceased before sleeping.

The deceased was identified as Sandeep Kumar (32) of Garh Shankar in Hoshiarpur.

He was married five years ago. The trucker was returning from Payal town after delivering a consignment to a trader. Feeling sleepy, the victim took a nap near the petrol station, following which the vehicle caught fire, his kin said.

Investigation revealed that the driver of the truck (bearing registration number HP 12 C 8365) had parked his vehicle near exit point of the petrol station near Bija Chowk on the national highway about 11.30 pm on Friday.

It was about 3.30 am that employees of the petrol pump noticed smoke and flames in front cabin of the truck. Besides trying to extinguish the fire, they raised an alarm and tried to rescue the driver, who had woke up on hearing the noise.

As windows of the truck were locked from inside, these could not be opened after the vehicle caught fire.

The panicked driver also failed to come out from the vehicle quickly due to which he was engulfed in flames. All efforts by petrol pump employees to douse the flames failed after which fire tender reached the spot and controlled the fire.

Kuldeep Singh and Jagjit Singh, employees of the petrol pump, said the police had kept the charred body of the deceased at a mortuary of the Civil Hospital, Khanna, which would be handed over to his kin after autopsy. Meanwhile, owners of the truck were identified on the basis of registration of the vehicle and informed in the morning.

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