TV channel employee dies after oil tanker overturns onto his car

An employee of a private television channel lost his life after an oil tanker overturned onto his car on the Baloch Colony flyover on Thursday.

As the oil tanker was moving up the flyover, its cab unit separated from the trailer unit, causing the tanker to fall onto the car, resulting in the death of the car’s occupant. The overturned oil tanker was removed after 18 hours, which had caused the closure of a track of the flyover, resulting in a severe traffic jam on Sharea Faisal extending for several kilometres, with cars lined up from Karsaz to Metropole.

Heavy machinery was called in to extract the car from underneath the tanker, but the operation faced difficulties due to the large crowd of onlookers. Police and fire engines also reached the accident site.

After an effort of three hours, the body of the person in the trapped car was retrieved with the help of a crane. The tanker driver fled the scene, while there was significant leakage of jet fuel from the tanker.

The traffic police had closed the bridge leading from Qayyumabad to Baloch Colony to avoid disruptions in the operation. Fire brigade officials said the oil tanker contained jet fuel, and the fuel leakage posed a fire hazard, which was why fire engines were at the scene.

They said the operation was completed after two and a half hours of effort, and the body of the person in the car was taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. The deceased was identified as Asad Ali Zaidi, 48. He was a senior editor at a private TV channel’s production house.

Fire brigade officials said that it was not possible to remove the tanker without emptying the oil. The district administration was informed about the tanker’s removal, and the firefighters remained on-site until the tanker was removed.

The district administration’s absence for several hours after the accident led to an 18-hour delay in removing the tanker. Police officials said jet fuel was continuously leaking from the tanker. The leakage could have caused a severe accident. The closure of both tracks of the bridge for traffic caused significant inconvenience for commuters. People heading to Korangi Industrial Area were directed to alternative routes.

Some individuals arrived with large drums in pick-up trucks to collect the leaking oil. Despite the police resorting to baton charging to disperse the crowd, people continued to collect the oil. Rescue officials said people were unwilling to understand the danger and continued to steal the oil.

The Oil Tankers Owners Association’s officials explained that the tanker was carrying jet fuel, not kerosene, and that it was headed to the airport. They said people mistook the jet fuel for kerosene and started collecting it, unaware that jet fuel is used for aeroplanes.