National
Unsafe storing of fuel threatens lives
As the country is reeling under an acute shortage of petroleum products due to India’s unofficial blockade, people are unsafely carrying fuels in public and private vehicles and storing at home.Lal Prasad Sharma
As the country is reeling under an acute shortage of petroleum products due to India’s unofficial blockade, people are unsafely carrying fuels in public and private vehicles and storing at home.
Due to the unsafe ferrying of petroleum products in passenger vehicles, some people died while several others sustained serious burn injuries as such petroleum products caught fire.
Also, storing petroleum products at home is equally dangerous. According to the Western-Regional Police Office, four people died while storing petroleum products in Kaski district. Similarly, four others who sustained severe burn injuries are undergoing treatment in hospitals. Police said two people died when a gallon of petrol stored in the house of Bijaya Regmi caught fire at Aarchalebot in Pokhara-2 on October 18. “Thirty-year-old Kehavraj Timilsina of Sarangkot and 12-year-old Roshani Tiwari were killed due to the fire,” Police Inspector Debi Paudel said, adding that some people were also injured in the incident.
Similarly, 35-year-old Shova Lamichhane of Setidhovan in Syangja, who sustained severe burn injuries, died during treatment in Kathmandu on October 21. She was injured as diesel stored at her house caught fire. Likewise, three-year-old Khushi Kewat of Asuraina-3 in Rupandehi also died after she sustained serious burn injuries in a similar incident at Siddharthanagar- 3. It is learnt that she was injured as a bottle filled with petrol stored at home caught fire.
SP Mukundaraj Acharya of Regional Police Office
said some people lost their lives as they stored petroleum products at home. “Petroleum products are highly inflammable and it’s too dangerous to store them near fire,” he said.