Nine killed as oxygen cylinder explodes in ambulance at Pakistan health centre in Tharparkar

Nine people, including a pregnant woman, were killed when an oxygen cylinder exploded inside an ambulance parked on the premises of a primary health centre in Dano Dhandhal area of Nagarparkar taluka, in Tharparkar district of Pakistan's Sindh province. Several others were badly burnt. Fear and panic gripped the area.

The incident took place outside a health centre run under the People's Primary Healthcare Initiative (PPHI). A pregnant woman in serious condition was waiting for treatment in the ambulance. At that moment, health centre staff and technicians were replacing the ambulance's oxygen cylinder with a new one. While the work was under way, the cylinder exploded violently, apparently because of a technical fault or a gas leak, and the ambulance was quickly engulfed in flames.

The blast was so loud that it was heard several kilometres away. A fierce fire broke out in the ambulance immediately afterwards. The pregnant woman and her relatives inside the vehicle had no chance to get out. She and two people who had come with her died in the fire. Health workers who were near the ambulance were also caught in the blaze.

According to local police officials and the rescue team, those killed include the PPHI dispenser, the ambulance driver, a security guard and another health centre employee. A stampede broke out on the premises after the blast, and other patients and staff there were terrified. Local residents and the rescue team reached the spot quickly and tried to put out the fire, but by then the vehicle and those inside it had been reduced to ashes.

Two midwives and a woman nurse of the health centre were also seriously burnt. The Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Tharparkar and the Assistant Commissioner of Nagarparkar visited the site and took stock of the situation. The seriously injured were given initial treatment locally and then sent to a large hospital in Karachi. One of the injured died on the way to Karachi, taking the toll to nine.

The district police administration has ordered a thorough inquiry. A forensic investigation has begun into whether safety rules were violated while the cylinder was being fitted, and whether the oxygen cylinder used was expired or defective. The local administration has assured that strict action will be taken against those responsible if negligence is established.

Tharparkar in Sindh is regarded as largely drought-prone and extremely backward. Its people depend entirely on government health centres and on ambulances run by bodies such as PPHI for treatment. Negligence in the health system is nothing new in this area, which lacks basic facilities. In October 2019, the Mithi Civil Hospital refused to provide an ambulance to carry the body of a dead child, citing lack of money for fuel, drawing international criticism.

Local residents are angrily asking whom ordinary people can trust when the ambulance meant to save lives becomes a death trap. The Sindh government is under heavy pressure from all sides to enforce strict safety rules after the incident.