Huge Pakistan tanker explosion and fire kills more than 100

A rescue official says the death toll from an oil tanker fire in Pakistan has risen to 148, with dozens more in critical condition.


The disaster occurred when hundreds of residents of a nearby village gathered at the site of an overturned oil tanker to collect the leaking fuel. It’s believed that a spark from the many cars and motorcycles that raced to the scene ignited the fuel.

<snip> https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...964a7d55207_story.html?utm_term=.04460c648fc1


http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/overturned-oil-tanker-explodes-pakistan-killing-122-n776396


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/oil-tanker-explodes-pakistan-killing-scores-rushed-accident-scene/

http://dunyanews.tv/en/Pakistan/394386-The-worst-oil-tanker-fires-around-the-world

At least 153 men, women and children were killed, with dozens more in critical condition, hospital and rescue officials said.

[...]

The fuel truck was traveling from the southern port city of Karachi to Lahore, the Punjab provincial capital, when the driver lost control and crashed on a highway outside Bahawalpur.

<snip> https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...dd65da-5962-11e7-840b-512026319da7_story.html

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I wonder if the tanker driver made it out and away from the scene before other vehicles arrived. So many lives lost. The details are very disturbing.

Hubster is reading on another forum, source says someone lit a cigarette & ignited the fire....

RIP and comfort to the families & friends!

Awful and horrific tragedy everyone involved is in my prayers.

Laughing said:

Hubster is reading on another forum, source says someone lit a cigarette & ignited the fire....

RIP and comfort to the families & friends!

Click to expand...

If true, that would make the tragedy even more disturbing knowing the fire was deliberately set. Or, maybe it was through ignorance.

"According to the initial reports, somebody tried to light a cigarette, and when the spilt fuel caught fire, leading to the tanker's explosion," rescue worker spokesman Jam Sajjad Hussain told Reuters.

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<snip> http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...lled-after-oil-truck-catches-fire-in-pakistan

“It is a horrible tragedy,” said Makhdoom Syed Hassan Gillani, the parliamentary representative of Ahmedpur East, the small city in Punjab Province where the disaster occurred. “You can blame poverty 100 percent,” he added with a heavy voice. “It was poverty. It was greed. It was ignorance.”

Fuel is a high-value commodity in Pakistan, so even for those aware of the risks, the prospect of obtaining it free was too powerful a lure to ignore. Ahmedpur East has long suffered from poverty, illiteracy and a lack of modern facilities, and local residents have blamed the provincial government for spending money on urban areas at the expense of rural regions.

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<snip> https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/25/world/asia/pakistan-oil-tanker-fire.html