Catering items on mini-truck catch fire in Zirakpur

Satinder Pal Singh

Zirakpur, July 17

Chaotic scenes were witnessed on the Chandigarh-Ambala stretch near here when catering items loaded on a stationed mini-truck caught fire in front of a banquet hall in the wee hours today. However, no casualty was reported in the incident.

According to eyewitnesses, the mini-truck, carrying catering items, was returning from a function here.

Sources said the incident took place at around 2.30 am. After the function was over, caterers put two hot “tandoors” (used for cooking) in the mini-truck, which led to the fire. The flames soon engulfed the entire catering items loaded on the vehicle.

The driver of the vehicle came to know about the fire when a security guard of a nearby building raised an alarm. After noticing the fire, the driver, unaware of the risk involved, drove the vehicle to a safer place where flames could be doused. Commuters travelling on the Chandigarh-Ambala stretch were a harried lot after seeing the fire, the sources said.

Before the fire brigade could reach the spot, people tried to douse the flames by using a fire extinguisher and spraying water from a pipe.

Fire officials at Dera Bassi claimed to have received the information in this regard at around 2.45 am. Soon, a fire tender was rushed to the spot to douse the flames. After around an hour, firemen managed to douse the flames.

Things could have been catastrophic had the fire came in contact with two LPG cylinders that were loaded in the mini-truck, the fire officials said. For some time, panic gripped the people. Only when the firemen doused the flames, they heaved a sigh of relief. 

However, no case has been registered in this connection.