A huge fire erupted on the Jaipur-Ajmer highway on Tuesday night after a truck loaded with LPG cylinders collided with a tanker, police said. The impact of the crash caused multiple explosions as the gas cylinders caught fire and began bursting one after another. Some cylinders were thrown several meters away due to the force of the blasts, while flames and loud explosions were visible and audible from several kilometers away.

Jaipur IG Rahul Prakash said that two to three people, including the tanker driver, were injured in the incident. According to CMHO Jaipur-I Ravi Shekhawat, the driver of one of the vehicles was taken to a nearby hospital for first aid.

Deputy Chief Minister Prem Chand Bairwa, who visited the spot on the instructions of Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma, said the situation was now under control and that no deaths had been reported so far. Police officers and fire brigade teams rushed to the scene immediately after the accident and managed to contain the fire. Traffic on the highway was temporarily stopped as a precaution.

Bairwa told reporters that the drivers and cleaners of the vehicles involved were missing and that police were trying to locate them. “The administration is closely monitoring the situation. So far, there is no information about any casualties,” he said.

Senior police and district officials also reached the site to oversee the relief and rescue operations. CMHO Shekhawat said arrangements had been made at Jaipur’s SMS Hospital to treat possible victims, but no one had been brought in yet. “As per initial information, one man received primary treatment at a hospital in Dudu,” he added.

Eyewitnesses said the truck carrying LPG cylinders was parked outside a roadside hotel and its driver had gone to eat when the accident occurred. “A tanker coming from behind rammed into the parked truck, causing a massive explosion. The tanker driver was injured and taken to a nearby hospital,” said Vinod, an eyewitness.

Officials are investigating the cause of the collision. This incident comes less than a year after a similar accident on the same highway near Bhankrota, where an LPG tanker explosion killed 19 people and turned a stretch of the road into a fireball.