A road mishap near Qazi Ahmed in Nawabshah district on Saturday cost thousands of litres of palm oil. This occurred when a carrier oil tanker overturned at the National Highway on its way from Karachi to upcountry.
Police and fire brigade vehicles soon arrived at the location as authorities sealed a track of the highway.
According to local officials, relief work was also initiated.
Earlier this month, a Sahiwal-bound tanker carrying 44,000 litres of furnace oil on it way from Karachi had turned upside down near Karimabad, also in Nawabshah district.
The motorway police and emergency relief agencies had soon after reached the spot and initiated relief operations.
Due to a lack of adequate safety measures, vehicles transporting combustible cargo could easily become lethal in case of an accident; threatening huge losses of property and persons.
Recently, another oil tanker carrying thousands of litres of fuel had exploded and caught fire after overturning on Gulbai Flyover in the Shershah area of Karachi. The fire had then spread to the nearby vehicles and godowns.
Two godowns, one container and five motorcycles were damaged in the incident.
In June 2017, at least 140 people were killed while over 100 were injured when an oil tanker caught fire after overturning on National Highway near Ahmedpur Sharqia (East) in Bahawalpur.
After the deadly incident, the Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) announced safety measures for transporting oil via tankers. These were vehemently resisted by the oil tanker owners body; leaving the safety issue to the back burner.
