TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - At least sixteen children died when their school bus caught fire in the eastern City of Gujarat, Pakistan, on Saturday, May 25, 2013. Other seven children were taken to the hospital.

Early report said that a compressed gas cylinder had exploded on the bus after fire broke out. However, a local police said that the gas tube was found intact. He said that a teacher also died in the accident. Another police said that the driver survived the accident and escaped.

Dar Ali Khattak, who witnessed the accident, said that he fire was apparently caused by a spark when the driver of the 'dual-fuel' bus switched from gas to petrol.

He added that the children, aged between four and ten, were just a few kilometers away from their school in Gujarat, about 200km southeast of the capital Islamabad, when the incident occured.

Compressed natural gas is used in millions of vehicles in Pakistan as a cheaper alternative to diesel and petrol. Several previous vehicle explosions have been blamed on substandard cylinders used to contain the fuel.

BBC | JULI