Pakistani volunteers remove dead bodies from the charred passenger bus in Lahore, Pakistan. (AP Photo/K.M.Chaudary)
Note to self - do not try this ...
Posted on 12/11/2005 8:20:28 PM PST by 11th_VA
A firecracker thrown by a celebrant at a wedding in eastern Pakistan set ablaze a bus packed with guests, killing at least 40 people and seriously wounding a dozen others.
Police in Lahore, where the wedding was taking place on Sunday, said the firecracker went off under the vehicle's fuel tank. It exploded and a number of fireworks inside the bus also caught fire.
Authorities said more than 70 people were on the bus, including many children who suffocated while trying to reach the single door.
"It took seconds until the bus was engulfed by flames and people hardly had any chance to rescue anyone," said a senior police officer, Amir Zulfikar.
At least 40 bodies had been pulled out of the wreckage by late evening, while at least 12 people were seriously injured, police said.
The groom's father, Muhammad Wazir Khan, said his son and the bride survived because they were travelling in a different vehicle.
He said many of the bodies were burned so badly that they weren't recognizable.
"We do not know who is dead and who has survived," he told Agence France-Presse.
"The tragedy has shattered us. Several bodies are completely charred and cannot be identified."
Government officials have ordered an investigation into the accident.
Even though authorities have tried to discourage the custom, people at weddings in Pakistan often set off fireworks and fire guns into the air in celebration.
Fireworks accidents are common in the country, in part because they're often incorrectly stored or handled.
Pakistani volunteers remove dead bodies from the charred passenger bus in Lahore, Pakistan. (AP Photo/K.M.Chaudary)
Note to self - do not try this ...
I hate when that happens.
And to think in the US we went from tossing rice to throwing bird seed or blowing bubbles, cause we didn't want to harm the wild birds.
Or some such nonsense.
Why don't we throw rice anymore?
England: Three Weddings and a Funeral.
Pakistan: One Wedding and Forty Funerals.
You serious? I've never seen an exploded bird before and I grew up on a farm with plenty of seed around. Saw them get drunk on fermented berries, tho. Almost every year.
The range of stupid is limitless.
We country folk can laugh, because he is serious as to the moonbats' BELIEF that the rice kills the birds, even though it is proved to be an urban legend.
It ain't true; they believe it anyway, so they toss other stuff instead.
Firecracker thrown under the bus, and blows up the fuel tank?
Sure, I believe that.
You just didn't take into account the power of a homemade Pakistani firecracker - The thing probably needed a number 4 blasting cap to detonate it.
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