The tanker, numbered Na 1 Kha 5708, was transporting 12 kiloliters of diesel from Amlekhgunj to Shanti Oil Store in Bhaktapur.
Nepal Petroleum Dealers´ Association (NPDA), issuing a press release, said that some unidentified group took control over the tanker on Sunday and that its whereabouts is still unknown.
"The driver and his assistant are out of contact and are probably taken as hostage," states the release, raising serious concern over the failure of the traffic police and security agency in tracing the vehicle and its staff even after 48 hours of registering the case.
NPDA Vice President Dhruba Shrestha said neither the dealers not the tanker operators know whether it is mere a single unpleasant incident or state of a new trend of crime. "Security situation in the country is already fragile. Such criminal activity has shaken all of us," Shrestha said, and demanded the government to extend special security for transportation of petroleum products, which are highly inflammable and whose mishandling could inflict serious loss of life and property along the areas they ply on.
NPDA and petroleum transporters have even warned of stopping fuel transportation if the government did not trace the missing vehicle and solve the case immediately and assure better security arrangements for the petroleum transporters.
"In the absence of information on who drove away the vehicles and its staff, insurance companies do not compensate the dealer as well as the transporter. We cannot operate with such high risks," said Shrestha.
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