Kerala:
Two people were killed and the National Highway 47 in Kerala completely blocked after a major road accident between a gas tanker and a car at 5 am on Thursday morning. The fire was extinguished only by late afternoon and the traffic eased.
The gas tanker burst into flames minutes after the accident. The fire raged for hours and the highway was blocked. Efforts are on to remove the tanker from the highway and traffic is easing out now.
Locals near site of the accident had been evacuated as a precautionary measure.
Sixteen people were injured, of which four were police constables who tried to intervene soon after the accident. A police jeep was also burnt. Six people seriously injured were taken to a medical college in Trivandrum, where two of them died.
National Highway 47 is an arterial highway which connects Trivandrum to the rest of north Kerala and Bangalore.