Three killed in blast in tanker at asphalt plant near Vadodara

Vadodara, Three persons were killed when a tanker exploded while being heated to empty asphalt from the vehicle at a plant near Vadodara in Gujarat on Sunday evening, police said.

The incident occurred at Mokshi village in Savli taluka of Vadodara district, an official from Bhadarwa police station said.

A tanker was being heated to transfer stuck asphalt from the vehicle into barrels when it blew up, killing three persons standing nearby, the official said. Among the deceased were the driver and cleaner of the vehicle, as well as a labourer, he said.

"The tanker was being heated to remove the stuck asphalt. During this process, the gas pressure inside the tanker increased, and it exploded," the police official said.

The bodies of the victims were shifted to a hospital in Vadodara for post-mortem, he said.

The deceased were identified as Armaan Ziaullah (26), a resident of Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, Ashok Gurjar (21) from Alwar in Rajasthan, and Shakib Akhtar Khan (33), a resident of Vadodara.