Fowler Associates Labs

The driver of the tanker and an employee of the petrol pump were injured in the accident. It took eight water tankers half an hour to douse the fire at Karan petrol pump.

Traffic at Sikanderpur Chowk and Iffco Chowk was blocked for over an hour and had to be diverted. According to chief fire officer, Beerbal Sharma, the incident occurred when a petrol tanker was being emptied.

As a nearby scooterist, who had just got his scooter refilled, took off, a spark ignited the fumes of petrol and soon the tanker was on fire. Sharma added: "The driver of the tanker remained cool and took the vehicle out of the pump. Otherwise the entire place would have exploded. He suffered minor injuries and was admitted to a private hospital."

Meanwhile, a motorcycle that was parked near the tanker also caught fire. Worse, a Maruti car which was loaded with an LPG cylinder, exploded.

Fortunately, the drivers of both the vehicles were away. Also, no onlookers were injured. The traffic on Mehrauli-Gurgaon road was also affected.