UPDATE: The death toll from the ambulance fire in Tharparkar has risen to 10, after a newborn died at Karachi’s Trauma Centre. This article updates our earlier report on the incident and covers only the new developments and the official responses that have followed, together with the essential background needed to understand them.
The incident took place on Wednesday night at a basic health centre run by the Peoples Primary Healthcare Initiative in Dano Dhandhal, in Nagarparkar taluka of Tharparkar district. The fire broke out in an ambulance at the centre. According to reports, the oxygen cylinder in the ambulance exploded while a patient was being shifted to the vehicle. The explosion and the fire that followed left seven people dead on the spot and six others injured. Those figures were the toll as first reported, before the latest death in Karachi.
The newborn who has now died was among the injured taken for treatment after the fire. The child died at the Trauma Centre in Karachi, taking the overall toll from the incident to 10. The death of a newborn in these circumstances adds a further layer of grief to an incident that had already claimed seven lives at the scene. It also underlines the seriousness of the injuries suffered by those who survived the initial fire, some of whom required transfer to Karachi for specialist care.
In Dano Dhandhal itself, the human impact of the tragedy was visible on Thursday. Routine activities in the village remained suspended in mourning. When a community pauses its normal life in this way, it is a measure of how deeply an incident has affected the people who live there. The suspension of routine activities is not a formal announcement but a communal response, and it speaks to the scale of loss felt in a small village where families and neighbours know one another closely.
At the national level, President Asif Ali Zardari has ordered a transparent inquiry into the incident. The call for transparency is significant because questions will inevitably be asked about how the fire started, how the ambulance and its oxygen cylinder were maintained, and what safety procedures were in place at the basic health centre when the patient was being shifted. A transparent inquiry, if carried out as ordered, should address those questions openly and establish the facts for the families affected and for the wider public. It will also matter for other basic health centres that rely on ambulances and oxygen equipment, since any lessons about safety procedures could have relevance beyond this one incident.
In Sindh, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has announced compensation of Rs2 million each for the families of those killed. The announcement provides a measure of financial support to families who have lost relatives, although no amount of compensation can undo the loss itself. The figure of Rs2 million per family is the support announced at this stage, and it applies to the families of those killed in the incident. How and when the compensation reaches the families will be a matter for the provincial authorities to arrange, and the families and the local community will be watching for that process to be completed.
The incident has therefore moved from the immediate shock of Wednesday night to a phase of mourning, inquiry and official response. The toll now stands at 10, with seven people killed on the spot, the newborn’s death in Karachi, and the remaining injured still part of the story. The village of Dano Dhandhal remains in mourning, the president has ordered an inquiry, and the Sindh chief minister has announced compensation. Those are the new developments since our first report, and they are the focus of this update.
Sources: Dawn, 30 Oct
