New Delhi: A driver and cleaner of a gas tanker were killed after the vehicle plunged into a gorge and caught fire in Madhya Pradesh's Raisen district on Sunday, news agency PTI reported.
According to police, the accident took place around 3:30 pm on the Bhopal-Jabalpur Highway, under the jurisdiction of the Sultanpur police station, approximately 40 km from the district headquarters.
Rajat Sarathe, the in-charge of Sultanpur police station, said that the driver lost control of the gas tanker transporting LPG, causing it to veer off the road and tumble into the gorge.
Fire broke out which soon engulfed the tanker and spread to nearby huts, resulting in the deaths of four to five cattle, Sarathe added.
Both the driver and the cleaner were charred to death and their identities are yet to be established, police added, PTI reported.
Firefighting teams from neighbouring towns rushed to the scene to contain the blaze, which could not be doused till the filing of this report.
A case has also been registered in connection with the incident, police said.
In a separate incident on Saturday, a 75-year-old man was killed and his bedridden sister sustained injuries in a fire that broke out in their apartment in Ranchi, PTI reported.
The incident took place in an apartment located in Ranchi’s Siram Toli, police said.
Jultan Surin and his sister Jolen Horo, 80, resided in the flat, a police officer stated.
"Surin was unmarried, and they had no other family members. The fire broke out in the apartment in the morning, resulting in Surin's death," the police officer told PTI.
Fortunately, their neighbours were able to rescue Horo from the blaze, and she was later admitted to a hospital for treatment.
Fire service personnel managed to extinguish the fire, although the exact cause of the blaze is yet to be ascertained, police added.