Six persons were injured after a man inadvertently threw a matchstick onto spilled petrol after lighting a beedi in Maharashtra`s Nashik city on Wednesday, officials said, reported the PTI.
The injured suffered burns injuries in the incident, they said.
Some of the injured persons have been admitted to the District Civil Hospital, while the others are receiving care at a private medical facility, the officials said.
The incident occurred in the Satpur area of the city around noon, they said.
According to a police official, a few workers had been engaged to cut a tree near the Mutton Market, Mahadevwadi. The labourers had brought petrol in a can to operate a tree-cutting machine, he said, according to the PTI.
However, an unidentified car hit the container, spilling the highly flammable fuel. Just then, an elderly man sitting nearby lit a beedi and absentmindedly tossed the matchstick, the official said.
The ignited matchstick triggered a ball of fire, injuring six persons. After being alerted, the fire brigade rushed to the spot and doused the fire, the official said, the news agency reported.
A case has been registered at the Satpur police station and a probe is underway, he said.
Meanwhile, in an another incident, a truck carrying LPG cylinders caught fire following a collision with a tanker on the Jaipur-Ajmer highway on Tuesday night, leading to multiple explosions, police confirmed.
The impact of the crash caused several gas cylinders to explode, with some reported to have landed several metres away from the scene. Flames and loud blasts were seen and heard from kilometres away, alarming local residents, as per the PTI.
Inspector General of Jaipur, Rahul Prakash, said that two to three individuals, including the tanker driver, sustained injuries. The driver of the vehicle at fault was taken to a nearby hospital for initial treatment, according to Jaipur-I Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO), Dr Ravi Shekhawat.
Deputy Chief Minister Prem Chand Bairwa, who arrived at the scene on the direction of Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma, stated that the situation was under control and no fatalities had been reported so far. However, he stated that the drivers and cleaners of the involved trucks were currently unaccounted for, and efforts were underway to locate them, the news agency reported.
Emergency services, including police teams and fire brigades, responded promptly to the incident, which took place near the Dudu area. Traffic along the highway was temporarily halted as a safety measure.
(with PTI inputs)
