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The burnt bus |
At least 16
children and their teacher have been killed when their school bus caught fire
in eastern Pakistan, police say.
At least
seven more children were taken to hospital after the incident on the outskirts
of the city of Gujrat.
The bus
driver is reported to have survived.
Police told
the BBC a compressed gas cylinder had exploded on the bus after fire broke out.
The children,
aged between four and 10, were just a few kilometres from their school in
Gujrat, about 200km (120 miles) south-east of the capital Islamabad, when the
incident happened.
Police
officer Dar Ali Khattak told the AFP news agency the fire was apparently caused
by a spark when the driver of the dual-fuel bus switched from gas to petrol.
‘We are
burning’
Two children
who survived by escaping from a window in the back of the bus told reporters
they had smelt gas before the fire broke out. One boy said the other children
were shouting: “Brother, save us, save us. We are burning.” “I took a huge
stick and broke the glass. I tried to save them but I couldn’t,” he said.
Compressed
natural gas is used in millions of vehicles in Pakistan as a cheaper
alternative to diesel and petrol. Numerous previous vehicle explosions have
been blamed on substandard cylinders used to contain the fuel.
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