AHMEDPUR EAST, PAKISTAN // At least 139 people were killed and scores injured when an overturned oil tanker exploded in a huge fireball in Pakistan on Sunday.
The blast occurred as crowds scavenging for fuel ignored warnings to stay clear, officials and witnesses said.
The tanker was carrying 40,000 litres of fuel when it overturned on a main road while travelling from Karachi to Lahore, near the town of Ahmedpur East in Punjab province.
Details were sketchy but some witnesses suggested the tanker had suffered a burst tyre, said regional police chief Raja Riffat.
“When it turned over the residents of the nearby village of Ramzanpur Joya rushed to the site with buckets and other containers, and a large number of people on motorcycles also came and started collecting the spilling fuel,” said Mr Riffat.
“After about 10 minutes the tanker exploded in a huge fireball and enveloped the people collecting petrol. It was not clear how the fire started.”
Residents could be seen walking past blackened and twisted bodies piled by the roadside. Earlier, television footage showed shooting flames and a thick plume of smoke as firefighters battled to extinguish the blaze.
The charred wreckage of dozens of motorcycles and cars was scattered on the motorway, along with kitchen utensils, pots, water coolers, jerry cans and buckets which victims had brought to collect the petrol.
Dozens of villagers and relatives of victims looked on from nearby farmland, many of them weeping.
“What kind of ill-fated day is today?” one woman asked tearfully. Villagers said many of the victims had been related to each other.
Hafiz Sohail’s uncle and cousin were among the victims. “Everyone in the family and the village is deeply shocked. Nobody is able to explain what just happened,” he said.
“It was all fire everywhere I saw. For quite some time I was unable to understand what was going on.”
Mohammad Shabbir, another villager, said the driver was shouting for people to stay away because the petrol could explode at any time, but no one listened.
“What is the use of this petrol, what will you do it with now?” he asked, pointing at a bucket in his other hand.
Pakistan motorway police spokesman Imran Shah said residents also ignored police warnings to stay away.
“The death toll has risen to 139 and most of the injured are in critical condition,” said Punjab provincial health minister Salman Rafiq, adding that he feared the death toll may rise.
Mr Rafiq said more than 100 people had been injured. Twenty-five of the injured had been moved on a C-130 aircraft to Lahore, he added, while 10 had been moved to Faisalabad and 54 to Multan. The others were still in the Bahawalpur Victoria hospital.
“Many bodies could not be identified as they have been charred very badly,” added Mr Riffat, as provincial officials said DNA tests were being used.
Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah said the tanker driver had survived the crash and been taken into custody.
Prime minister Nawaz Sharif expressed his grief and directed provincial officials to provide “full medical assistance”.
Pakistan has an appalling record of fatal traffic accidents caused by poor roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving.
At least 62 people including women and children were killed in southern Pakistan in 2015 when their bus collided with an oil tanker.
The country has also long struggled to alleviate a chronic energy crisis, with regular blackouts crippling industry and exacerbating anger against the government.
* Agence France-Presse