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Pakistan school bus fire kills 16 children | Pakistan school bus fire kills 16 children |
(about 1 hour later) | |
At least 16 children and their teacher have been killed when their school bus caught fire in eastern Pakistan, police say. | |
At least seven more children were taken to hospital after the incident on the outskirts of the city of Gujrat. | At least seven more children were taken to hospital after the incident on the outskirts of the city of Gujrat. |
Police told the BBC a compressed gas cylinder had exploded on the bus after fire broke out. | |
The bus driver is reported to have survived. | |
Police officer Dar Ali Khattak told the AFP news agency the fire was apparently caused by a spark when the driver of the dual-fuel bus switched from gas to petrol. | |
'We are burning' | |
He said the children were aged between 5 and 15, and were just a few kilometres from their school in Gujrat, about 200km (120 miles) south-east of the capital Islamabad, when the incident happened. | |
Two children who survived by escaping from a window in the back of the bus told reporters they had smelt gas before the fire broke out. | Two children who survived by escaping from a window in the back of the bus told reporters they had smelt gas before the fire broke out. |
One boy said the other children were shouting: "Brother, save us, save us. We are burning." | |
"I took a huge stick and broke the glass. I tried to save them but I couldn't," he said. | |
Compressed natural gas is used in millions of vehicles in Pakistan as a cheaper alternative to diesel and petrol. | Compressed natural gas is used in millions of vehicles in Pakistan as a cheaper alternative to diesel and petrol. |
Numerous previous vehicle explosions have been blamed on substandard cylinders used to contain the fuel. | Numerous previous vehicle explosions have been blamed on substandard cylinders used to contain the fuel. |