Post Gujarat Incident Analysis on CNG Situation in Pakistan (Report)
Recently, more than 15 school children at least and a teacher were killed due to an explosion in a school van; in Gujarat, Pakistan. The explosion blast caused a big fire, immediately completely destroying the vehicle. Initial investigation pointed at the faulty wiring to be the cause of the fire. Due to a short circuit, the gas was ignited, when the van tried to switch from CNG to petrol. It is common in Pakistan for public and private transport to have been fitted with compressed natural gas kits, because it is supposedly cheaper than petrol. However, these kits often pose a safety risk to passengers of the vehicles they are fitted in. This incident in Gujarat is not the first – nor an isolated one, but one of the many to have occurred due to a CNG kit being fitted in the vehicle. One common misconception is that, the cylinder would have exploded because of it being heated by the harsh temperatures the vehicle is being driven in, leading to the expansion of the gas and