ISLAMABAD, June 27 (Xinhua) -- Death toll of the oil tanker fire in Bahawalpur district of Pakistan's eastern Punjab province on Sunday has risen to 158, officials said on Tuesday.
Aamir Bukhari, director of emergency at the Victoria Hospital Bahawalpur, told Xinhua on Tuesday afternoon that the death toll surged after 18 injured succumbed to their injuries at different hospitals of the province during last 36 hours.
Bukhari said following the incident, 125 unrecognizable bodies and 144 injured were brought to the hospital out of which 33 had expired since Sunday. The official feared that the death toll might further rise as 22 out of 111 injured currently under intensive care have bleak chances of survival because they are suffering over 80 percent burn wounds.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who cut short his Britain tour, visited the injured on Monday and announced to hold an in-depth inquiry into the tragedy, saying "we shall not let this incident go ignored without reaching any conclusion."
A case has been registered against the driver, the manager and the owner of the tanker at a local police station. The case said the incident took place at 6:23 a.m. local time on Sunday when an oil tanker fully packed with around 50,000 liters of petrol skidded off the road due to careless driving on a highway in Ahmad Pur Sharqia, a small town about 400 km 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.
Initial police investigation suggested that the fire broke out after someone on the spot lit a cigarette. Further probe into the incident is still underway.
Over four dozen ambulances rushed to the site and shifted the bodies and injured to hospitals. Four helicopters and a C-130 airplane were used to airlift the critical injured to hospitals in other cities due to the lack of doctors and facilities for burn injuries in local hospitals.
All the people who were collecting oil died on the spot while the injured brought to hospital were those who were by passers or were standing at a distance and got affected due to high intensity of fire explosion, Bukhari said.
A total of 80 motorbikes and six vehicles were burnt out in the fire, including a car carrying seven persons of a family who stopped over just to know what people are collecting.
Both Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Sharif expressed deep sorrow over the loss of so many precious lives in the incident on the eve of Eid-ul-Fitr, a Muslim festival observed at the end of holy fast month of Ramadan.
The Punjab provincial government announced a compensation package of 2,000,000 rupees (19,100 U.S. dollars) for each family of the deceased and 1,000,000 rupees (9,550 U.S. dollars) for each of the injured.
A forensic team is currently working in the Victoria Hospital to conduct DNA test of the bodies for identification.
