Three persons were charred to death after two trucks caught fire following a collision in the Shergarh area here, police said on Tuesday.
The fire was triggered due to a blast in the fuel tank of one of the trucks, they said.
Eyewitnesses said the raging flames engulfed the trucks and soon turned them into rubble.
They said they could hear the victims’ cries for help which turned silent after a moment.
Station House Officer of Shergarh police station Devendra Singh said the two trucks collided head-on late Monday late on the Sointara-Devigarh Mega highway.
“The fuel tank of one of the vehicles caught fire in the collision and the blaze engulfed both the trucks instantly. Drivers and an assistant got trapped in the fire and could not jump out,” he said.
Police identified the victims as Satyapal Bishnoi from Bikaner, Mahendra, and his nephew Leeladhar Acharya.
Police rushed to the site after learning about the incident. The fire department was alerted and fire tenders were called to douse the flames, they said.
It took about two hours to control the fire but both the trucks turned into rubble, police said.
The incident led to a massive traffic jam on the highway. The movement of traffic resumed only after the wreckage was removed from the road, they said.
Police said one of the trucks laden with ceramic tiles were going to Bikaner from Gujarat while the other laden with silica was headed to Gujarat.
