Two persons were burnt to death and eight others injured when a tank lorry carrying oil overturned and caught fire on Dhaka-Aricha highway in Savar this morning.
The fire soon spread and burnt at least four more vehicles -- a private car, one cement-laden truck, one watermelon carrying truck and a lorry-- to ashes, said Md Alauddin, deputy assistant director of Fire Service Zone-4.
The deceased were identified as Nazrul Islam, 45, and Iqbal Hossain, 28.
The injured were admitted to Sheikh Hasina National Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute in Dhaka. They are Abdus Salam, 35, Nironjon, 45, Al-Amin, 35, Helal, 30, Sakib, 24, Milon Molla, 22, Md Al Amin, 22, and Mim, 10.
Md Alauddin said a tank lorry turned turtle and caught fire on Aricha bound lane in Jordpul area around 5:00am. Four more vehicles were also gutted in the fire, he said.
On information, six firefighting units from Savar and Hemayetpur rushed to the spot and brought the fire under control, the fire official said.
Iqbal, a helper of the cement-laden truck and resident of Jashore, died on the spot, Sub-inspector Babul of Savar highway police station.
Doctors at the burn institute said eight people were brought to the hospital in connection with the fire. One of them, named Nazrul, was declared dead and eight others were undergoing treatment at the institute.
Injured Abdus Salam, driver of the burnt private car, said he was returning to Dhaka after refilling his vehicle from a CNG station in Hemayetpur. Suddenly, the tank lorry overturned and caught fire. A number of vehicles running around the lorry were burnt, he said.
There were no passengers in his car, said Abdus Salam who suffered burns on one side of his head and leg.
Jannati, wife of injured Milon, said that her husband is a labourer who was travelling on the cement-carrying car.
Following the accident, transport movement on the highway was disrupted creating long tailbacks.
Work was underway to remove the damaged vehicles from the highway when the report was filed around 9:15am.
