Police on Thursday finally opened the Baloch Colony Flyover for traffic – 14 hours after a tanker carrying highly inflammable jet fuel overturned on the busy thoroughfare.
At least one person was killed when the oil tanker got into an accident and overturned on a car in the wee hours of Thursday. Since the truck was carrying jet fuel, it could not be removed without emptying its stored fuel, creating hours-long traffic disruption on multiple arteries including Korangi Road, Sharea Faisal and Shahrah-e-Quaideen.
The car driver, identified as Asad, who got crushed under the tanker, died on the spot. His vehicle was removed by a crane after three hours.
The rescue officials said the tanker overturned due to overloading and detaching of its engine.
The authorities took several hours to remove the tanker from the road as a fire brigade official said they could not lift it as long as the oil was completely drained.
Deputy Inspector General Traffic Karachi Ahmed Nawaz Cheema said the tanker, carrying 60,000 litres of jet fuel, was going towards the airport area. He said all four compartments were full of fuel, out of which 600 litres of oil had spilt on the road.
Additionally, Cheema had advised citizens to stay away from the tanker as jet fuel is highly flammable. He also said additional force of security personnel was deployed to keep people away from the vehicle, as many people had started collecting the oil spilling from the unfortunate vehicle.
The DIG traffic police said the tanker could not be moved until it was emptied, because it could catch fire if acted otherwise. The company concerned had been contacted to bring suction pumps to drain the oil.
The Baloch Colony Flyover was closed and the traffic diverted towards other routes.
The vehicles travelling from Shaheed-e-Millat Road had been diverted from Bohri Cut towards Sharea Faisal, traffic coming from Korangi via Jam Sadiq Bridge had been diverted towards Akhtar Colony from a U-turn, and the vehicles going towards Korangi from the Baloch Colony bridge were being sent towards the FTC Chowrangi.
