ANI
Aizawl, November 16
The Mizoram Police arrested a man who allegedly lit a lighter in the middle of the road near a Tank Lorry which claimed 11 lives in the Turial area of this district in the state.
According to the police, at 4.35 pm on October 29, one Tank Lorry carrying 22,000 litre of petrol that was supposed to be delivered at Champhai met with an accident within the vicinity of Tuirial Airfield by turning turtle on the main road, thus spilling petrol out from the tanker.
A lot of people had gathered to collect the spilt over petrol when it suddenly caught fire at around 5.50 pm and four people lost their lives on the spot.
The police party and fire tenders immediately reached the spot to bring down the raging fire after the injured people were taken to various hospitals for treatment.
“Prima facie, it appeared that the cause of the accident was the truck was rash and negligent driving on the part of the driver and when the people started collecting the spilling petrol, someone apparently lit a lighter or was smoking, etc., which ignited the highly inflammable petrol, resulting in the accident,” the police said in its statement.
Bawngkawn Police arrested a man identified as TBC Lallawmawma, 28, of the Tuirial at midnight of November 1.
“During sustained interrogation, the accused admitted his guilt on the morning of November 2 at about 11 am, stating that on the fateful day, he went to collect the spilling petrol from the Tank Lorry; however, as there was a huge crowd engaged in collecting the spilling petrol and due to the chaos, he was unable to get enough petrol.
“Infuriated, he came out in the middle of the road and lit a lighter and exposed it to a plastic water bottle containing some quantity of petrol collected by him, just to test whether it could burn or not,” the police said.
As the petrol caught fire, he threw the burning bottle on the ground which eventually resulted in the fire accident, it added.
The police said the accused has been forwarded to judicial custody on November 3, after observing all legal formalities under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Motor Vehicles Act.
The total death toll due to the fire incident has reached 11 till date, including the four people who died on the spot while seven others are still undergoing treatment.
