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By APD writer Muhammad Sohail
**ISLAMABAD, June 27 (APD) ** -- Death toll from oil tanker fire that broke out in Bahawalpur district of Pakistan's eastern Punjab province on Sunday has jumped to 158, hospital officials said on Tuesday.
Aamir Bukhari, a focal person of the incident at the Victoria Hospital Bahawalpur, told media that the death toll has risen after 18 injured succumbed to their injuries during their treatment at different hospitals of the province.
Following the incident, the hospital received 125 bodies and 144 injured out of which 33 died later. The official said the death toll might further rise as 22 of the injured because their condition is deteriorating steadily.
According to police, all 125 people who died on the spot and could not be recognized have been buried in a local grave yard on Tuesday afternoon.
On Monday, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited the injured and directed to hold an in-depth inquiry into the tragedy. Following the PM’s announcement, a case was registered against three people including driver, manager and owner of the tanker.
According to police, the incident took place at 6:20 a.m. local time on Sunday when an oil tanker carrying around 50,000 liters of petrol skidded off the road due to careless driving on a highway in Ahmadpur Sharqia, a sub district of Bahawalpur.
Soon after the accident, the people from nearby villages heard the news of spilled oil and rushed to the site to fill their canes and motorcycles with petrol spilling from the capsized tanker.
A total of 80 motorbikes and six vehicles were burnt out in the fire.
Cause of the fire is not known yet as probe into the incident is still underway.
Over 50 ambulance rushed to the site and shifted the bodies and injured to the two hospitals in the district from where four helicopters and a C-130 airplane airlifted the critical injured to major cities due to the lack of facilities in the local hospitals.
The gov’t of Punjab province has announced a compensation package of around 20,000 US dollars for the family of each deceased and 10,000 US dollars for the wounded.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)