Man in flames walks 600m for help after Jaipur tanker blast, bystanders shoot videos

A motor mechanic reportedly walked 600 metres while being engulfed in flames while seeking help after a gas tanker explosion on the Jaipur-Ajmer highway on Friday.

Radheshyam Chaudhary, 32, was a motor mechanic with the National Bearings Company Limited. He left his home on his motorbike early on Friday. Later, visuals of the aftermath of the incident showed a burning man struggling to walk as he looked for help.

A stranger called Radheshyam Chaudhary’s brother Akheram at around 5:50am that morning, asking him to come to Heerapura bus terminal as his brother was in trouble. He went there with two of his neighbours.

“My brother was lying on the road. People told me he walked nearly 600 metres from the explosion site. He was crying for help as he struggled down the road. But instead of helping, most bystanders just made videos,” Akheram said, The Times of India reported.

A dash to the hospital

The brother and two neighbours took Radheshyam Chaudhary to the hospital in a car, realising that waiting for an ambulance would be futile in the chaos. According to him, he was conscious on the way to the hospital and told them everything that happened, including giving Akheram’s number to a stranger who informed him.

He also told his brother about the moments that led up to the tragedy, recounting the ground-shaking explosion and the wave of flames that engulfed everything, including him.

Radheshyam left his bike and tried to run away from the flames. But he couldn’t as they caught up with him. Despite all that, he somehow reached a man who helped him call his brother.

The mechanic was admitted to the Sawai Man Singh Hospital in Jaipur, and his brother thought he would survive the ordeal.

“We thought he would survive. But with 85% burns, his chance of survival was a thread that snapped,” his brother said.

Radheshyam Chaudhary became one of the 13 people who lost their lives in the tragedy.