Why wasn’t the auto’s lower half gutted?

Experts HT spoke to said a CNG fire can spread with explosive speed, but they doubt a CNG leak gutted the auto on Thursday.

Experts HT spoke to said a CNG fire can spread with explosive speed, but they doubt a CNG leak gutted the auto on Thursday.

HT Image

“If the CNG cylinder bursts, fire may spread within seconds,” said Dr HB Mathur, a retired IIT-Delhi professor who advised Supreme Court on technical aspects of CNG.

Mathur said the entire auto would have burnt in case of a gas explosion.

A visual inspection revealed that the lower half of the auto, especially the area where the CNG cylinder was placed, did not bear any impact of fire. The red-and-white paint scheme of the cylinder was also found intact.

Police claimed CNG was still leaking when the fire tender reached the spot. “Had the cylinder burst, there would have been no gas left,” Mathur said.

Mathur also pointed out that, “There has been no casualty so far in any of the 20 incidents of buses catching fire due to a CNG leak in Delhi.”