Thank God the fire did not result in damage beyond the vehicle involved or did not cause any any human casualties. But, it could have resulted in an inferno if the compressed gas or petrol tanks were to catch fire.Also, your photos show a crowd watcing the fire from close proximity. The police and fire brigade people should prevent people from coming so close because, God forbid, if there was an explosion of the gas or petrol tanks, there would be great human casualties. This brings me to onother aspect of safety at petrol stations.

While buidings have "Entry" and "Exit" gates clearly marked and enforced, nearly all petrol stations in Mangalore do not have such markings. I noticed this when there was a rumour about petrol supply a shand vehicles rushed to the outlets in droves and approached the petrol dispensors from both sides. If there is a fight over the petrol, how can anyone revers the vehicle and exit the scene to safety? Now, tell me who should be approached to rectify this? I wrote an article about it and with a photo of Balmatta petrol station, now involved in the accident, published in the Deccan Herald. Are the authorities concerned - the district administration, traffic police and MMC, for instance - perhaps do not read newspapers or couldn't care less about safety. This happens in the case of road safety also. I have written about the absence of proper road signage on my website yesterday. If you like, you check it out on the site welcometoreason.com