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After Jaisalmer bus blaze, second highway horror within weeks in Rajasthan: 15 killed in Phalodi
The victims were returning from Kapil Muni Ashram. Officials are providing assistance to families and medical care for the injured.
In a second road accident in Rajasthan in less than a month, at least 15 people were killed as a minibus carrying devotees caught fire in Phalodi on Sunday. The incident comes less than 20 days after the deadly accident on Jaisalmer-Jodhpur highway in which at least 20 people were burnt alive.
“Fifteen passengers died, while two others sustained serious injuries. The injured were first taken to a hospital in Osian for primary treatment and later referred to Jodhpur,” news agency PTI reported quoting Jodhpur police commissioner Om Prakash.
The fire broke out when the Force Traveller rammed into a stationary trailer truck near Matoda village on the Bharat Mala Highway.
The victims, whose bodies have been kept in the mortuary of the Osian government hospital, were mainly residents of the Sursagar area in Jodhpur and were returning from the Kolayat temple in Bikaner after offering prayers at the Kapil Muni Ashram.
Rajasthan chief minister Bhajanlal Sharma expressed grief over the incident and instructed officials to ensure all possible assistance to the victims' families and proper medical care for the injured.
Former chief minister Ashok Gehlot also mourned the loss of lives after the accident.
“I have just received the news that 15 people have died in a road accident in Matoda, Phalodi. Hearing this, my heart is extremely saddened. I pray to God to grant a place at His holy feet to all the deceased, give strength to their families, and a speedy recovery to the injured,” he wrote on X.
Jaisalmer tragedy
Twenty people were burnt alive and more than a dozen others were injured when a fire broke out in an air-conditioned bus on the Jaisalmer–Jodhpur highway and quickly spread through the vehicle on Tuesday afternoon, police said.
Pokaran MLA Pratap Puri said 19 bodies were found in the bus while one passenger died on the way to Jodhpur. Puri also told PTI that the authorities have decided that DNA tests would be used to confirm the identity of the deceased.
Jaisalmer Municipal Council’s assistant fire officer Krishanpal Singh Rathore said about 15 passengers, including four women and three children, had sustained severe burn injuries.
Soon after the incident, local villagers and passersby alerted the authorities. Three ambulances shifted some of the injured to Jaisalmer’s Jawahir Hospital.
Passengers reportedly had burns on their faces, hands, and legs. The fire is suspected to have started in the vehicle’s air conditioning unit and spread rapidly.
