Pune: One person died and nine school children suffered burn injuries, when a massive fire erupted after a tanker carrying Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) turned turtle and exploded spreading fire in the vicinity, at Kamshet-Khind near Maval taluka on the Mumbai-Pune Highway, late last night (Feb 04, 2004), police sources said.

As the tanker exploded, fire spread in the vicinity and leaping flames from it spread to a nearby boys Ashram Shala (school) in which nine of them sustained injuries, police said, adding the tanker containing 24,000 liters of LPG was going to Chakan from Mumbai.

As the tanker negotiated a turn on the ghat section, the driver lost control of the vehicle and it turned turtle and caught fire.

The boys and the driver of the tanker, who also sustained injuries, have been admitted to different hospitals, police said.

The traffic on the Mumbai-Pune highway (NH-4) was affected as the flames spread in the area. Some vehicles plying on the road also caught fire, besides a couple of hutments and grass shed. Traffic was diverted from another route.

Fire engines from Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khopoli, Lonavala and INS Shivaji rushed to the site to contain the fire.