The fire was so severe that the water tenders struggled to reach the burning vehicles. (File)

Jaipur:

With a desperate lurch to the left, trucker Sumer Singh dodged death on the Jaipur-Ajmer Highway, where a massive ball of fire waited for him. He got away with some burns, but many were not so lucky.

Sumer Singh, 40, was on his way towards Vishwakarma Industrial Area like any other day when suddenly a scene straight from hell appeared before his eyes.

To prevent driving straight into the fire, Sumer Singh, without wasting a moment sent his truck off the road with a lurch to the left, jumped off it as soon as it stopped, and ran for his life.

Sumer Singh survived but his truck was completely burnt.

Eleven people died, while more than 35 suffered burns on Friday when an LPG tanker collided with a truck, sparking a huge fire that turned a stretch of the Jaipur-Ajmer highway into an inferno.

The accident that happened around 5 am caused the truck to leak gas, setting an around 300 metres stretch of road ablaze, and trapping at least 37 vehicles in its flames.

The vehicles included two buses and as many cars but most of them were trucks, trailers and containers.

The fire was so severe that the water tenders struggled to reach the burning vehicles for a long time.

Some of the trucks were parked along the highway with their drivers and cleaners sleeping inside.

One of the vehicles that caught fire was a private sleeper bus, on its way to Jaipur coming from Udaipur. As fire engulfed the bus, passengers struggled to get out.

“I was going to Vishwakarma Industrial Area with my truck from Bagru at around 5 am to load some goods. It was very cold and I was going at a normal speed. At one point, about 200 metres ahead, I saw a cloud of smoke, high up in the sky,” Singh, who still couldn’t believe what struck him, told PTI.

“It felt as if hell was in front of me. I veered the truck completely to the left, jumped out and ran. When I looked back from afar, I could see nothing but fire,” he said.

“I do not even know how I managed to run so fast at this age. When I returned to the truck, I saw many vehicles had caught fire by then. People shouted for help. Nobody knew what had happened. Suddenly, a man came out from the flames. He had no clothes on his body and it was burnt. We had no means to help him,” he said.

According to Sumer Singh, most of the people struck by the tragedy were truck drivers and helpers and bus passengers.

“After some time, the fire brigade and ambulance arrived with sirens blaring. They first found it difficult to navigate through the fire. After some time, when the sunlight came, we found not a single vehicle was left intact. There were only burnt vehicles all along the highway,” he said.

Bablu Gujar, 21, a student, suffered 15 per cent burns.

His brother on his way from Gujarat, said, “I was informed that my brother had been injured in the fire. I do not know where he was going and how he got trapped there. I am travelling to Jaipur now.” Faizan, 20, from Udaipur, had left for Jaipur for some work on a bus last night. He received 50 per cent burns.

“The bus was about to reach Jaipur. I was expecting a call from him that he had reached but a call from the hospital shook us,” Saleem, his father, said.

Faizan’s family members, who reached the accident spot, struggled to locate him in the violent chaos the fire had left in its wake.

According to authorities, most of the victims were male, many of whom in a critical state.

A school van driver told PTI that the flames were visible from a kilometre away and the highway was a scene of chaos.

“As I got closer to the spot, I saw people scrambling to save them and shouting for help. I saw a man engulfed in flames. It was frightening,” he said.

All doctors and nursing staff were called from their homes at Sawai Man Singh Hospital to cater to the wounded.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma and Health Minister Gajendra Singh Khimsar reached Sawai Man Singh Hospital to oversee the operations.

“The hospital authorities have prepared another ward to accommodate the victims. Other surgeons were also called to help the team of plastic surgery doctors,” Dr Deepak Maheshwari, principal, SMS Medical College, said.

Another official said many people were brought to the hospital in a terrible state.

“Some bones were also brought. This was unprecedented. Many people flinched at the sight,” he said.

As soon as the news spread, politicians from both ruling and opposition parties started visiting the hospital.

Assembly Speaker Vasudev Devnani, ministers Rajyavardhan Rathore, Kirodi Lal Meena, state Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra and several MLAs were some of them.

The fear of an infection made the hospital administration bar people from going inside the ICU and other wards.

A team from the district administration was deployed to the hospital to help people contact the relatives of the victims and locate the missing.

Helpline numbers have also been issued. Those who were in a position to talk were asked for the numbers of their family members.

The owner of a private travel bus on the way to Jaipur was contacted and the list of passengers was sought from him.

The incident made fresh memories of another fire that broke out in the IOC oil depot in Sitapura, nearly 16 km from the city, in 2009. The blaze killed about a dozen people and burned around 300 more.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)