At least two were burned alive and more than 30 people got burn injuries due to an explosion in an LPG tanker on the Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur Highway near Mandiala village in Punjab, police reported on Saturday.
The blast was caused by a crash between the LPG truck and a pickup truck at night last Friday.
The blast and fire that erupted in the LPG truck engulfed shops and homes along the highway, trapping villagers, most of them asleep.
The pickup driver succumbed to burn injuries after the pickup vehicle was engulfed in fire, witnesses explained.
District authorities soon arrived at the place, and fire brigades of Jalandhar, Adampur and Hoshiarpur were mobilized to extinguish the fire.
Punjab Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ravjot Singh too visited the site and hospital to greet the injured. He promised that every support would be provided to affected families.
Deputy Commissioner Aashika Jain came forward with the information that a fire erupted after an LPG tanker collided with a pickup truck.
"Firefighting vehicles and ambulances were immediately sent to the site, and the fire has been brought under control largely," she said.
"Once the situation is stabilized completely, a proper evaluation of what led to the accident and the extent of damage will be done," she said.
Senior Medical Officer at the Civil Hospital Kuldeep Singh said 23 burn patients were admitted on Friday night. Of them, 15 have been shifted to specialty hospitals, two of whom have been sent to a private hospital in Adampur.
Seven patients are still undergoing treatment at the Civil Hospital in Hoshiarpur.
Early in the morning, angry locals gathered for a sit-in protest at the area. They claimed that they had been protesting against the setting up of the LPG bottling plant at their site but their complaints were not being heard, and they were being left open to such a possibility.
The police have put barricades along the National Highway, and movement of traffic has been halted.