Petrol truck that burnt was Chinese-made

The petrol tank truck that exploded in Almaty was made by Chinese manufacturing company FAW, Tengrinews.kz reports citing the press-service of Kazakhstan Emergency Situations Ministry. The lorry was owned by Helios company. According to the Ministry the area that caught fire as a result of the flip-over of the FAW JH 120GJY made 1,000 square meters, as the fire moved on to the nearest building. The fire damaged 12 cars that were parked next to the accident site and destroyed 16 apartments of the 8-storey building. 2 of them burnt to ashes. The building’s front and the ceiling of the sport shop on the ground floor were also badly damaged. “The fire-quenching operation involved 120 people and 29 vehicles of the fire-fighting service of Almaty Emergency Situations Department, 3 people and 1 vehicle of the Disaster Medicine Center of Kazakhstan Emergency Situations Ministry,” the message says. The petrol tank lorry exploded near Rixos hotel in Almaty at the crossing of Seifullin and Kabanbay Batyr streets in the morning of June 27. “The driver (born in 1986) of Helios was driving FAW JH 120GJY (petrol tank lorry) along Seifullin street northward, crossed into the oncoming line and crashed into Mitsubishi Pajero. As a result, Mitsubishi smashed into Lexus RX300. The truck then crazed GAZ-3302114,” Almaty Interior Department wrote. “After that the driver returned back to his own lane and, trying to stop, drove off the road, hit the trees and lost control of the truck. As a result, the truck flipped over and exploded,” the police added. The driver died on the spot. The fire moved on to RealSport sports shop, and #138 Kabanbay Batyr residential building. Burning fuel was flowing down along gutters as far as 250 meters off the accident site setting everything in its way on fire. The residents of the building were evacuated. Some of the burnt cars are owned by these residents. The people will be temporarily relocated to the nearest school where food and tents have been made available. The residents are concerned about pillaging. The Deputy Mayor explained that the company or persons responsible for the accident would have to compensate the damages. The city authorities also promised to render aid. According to the Interior Department, a criminal case was initiated for failure to maintain the vehicle and releasing it into service with technical failures, for allowing access to the vehicle of persons under the influence of alcohol and for violation of traffic rules and rules of exploitation of vehicles by persons driving the vehicles.