PAKISTAN (Reuters) – Death toll has risen to 153 from the oil tanker fire that broke out in the Bahawalpur district of Pakistan’s eastern Punjab Province Sunday morning, rescuers said.
The number of deaths may rise further as about 40 out of the about 100 injured people are in critical conditions, according to an official of local hospital.
A total of 75 motorbikes and six vehicles, including a traffic police vehicle, were burnt out in the fire, said police. The site was littered with numerous bodies burned beyond recognition.
According to the police, the tragedy took place at 06:23 local time when an oil tanker fully loaded with around 50,000 liters of petrol skidded off the road after tire burst on a highway in Ahmad Pur Sharqia, a small town about 400 kilometers southwest of Lahore, capital city of Punjab Province.
The fire broke out after many people from nearby villages came in motorbikes to collect the oil spilled out from the capsized oil tanker.
“In fact, I told them [my relatives] to go to my mango orchard this morning, but they saw many people trying to collect the [spilled] oil after the oil tanker had an accident near my orchard, so they joined them. Then suddenly a blast occurred and they all caught fire. Two persons of my family died and two others were injured. The fire killed one son and one brother of mine, with another son and brother injured,” said Mohammad Kabir, a local orchardist.
Ambulances and helicopters were called in to shift the injured to hospitals in different cities, with the highly critically injured being referred to better hospitals.
The cause of the fire is under further investigation.