Bahawalpur tragedy: death toll rises to 190

The death toll from the Bahawalpur oil tanker explosion reached 190 on Friday, a government official said.

Apart from the more than 150 killed immediately in the inferno, more than 100 people had suffered burn injuries in the incident which took place last Sunday.

They had been shifted to the THQ Hospital in Ahmedpur Sharqia, Nishat Hospital in Multan, Victoria Hospital in Bahawalpur and Jinnah Hospital in Lahore.

The death toll rose to 190 after more burn victims succumbed to their wounds in the hospital, Deputy Commissioner Rao Taslim Ahmad said.

Some of the victims who were rushed to hospitals following the blaze are still in critical condition, Ahmad added.

The disaster occurred when the tanker carrying 40,000 litres of fuel overturned after trying to make a sharp turn while travelling from Karachi to Lahore on the main highway and hundreds of residents of a nearby village gathered to collect the leaking fuel.

“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,” a police official said at the time.

The cause of the fire has not been made official yet, but it is believed that a spark from the many cars and motorcycles that raced to the scene ignited the fuel. Firefighters had fought the flames for over two hours before extinguishing the fire.

Motorway policemen Taqqi Haider and Muhammad Irfan, along with the driver of the oil tanker, had tried to stop people from gathering around the overturned vehicle. They also used the public address system to order them to vacate the site.

In his statement recorded before the police shortly before he passed away on Wednesday, Gul Muhammad, the driver, confirmed that he had tried his best to stop people from gathering around the oil tanker but no one had paid attention.

Sources in the Motorway Police earlier told Dawn the tanker had turned over after a sleep-deprived Gul Muhammad dozed off while driving the vehicle.

National Highway and Motorway Police authorities on Thursday suspended six officers, including a deputy superintendent of police, for negligence and keeping their senior officers in dark (when the oil tanker overturned and caught fire).

Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif constituted a four-member inquiry committee to investigate the inferno.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met the victims of the tragedy on Monday and told reporters that the government would provide jobs to those who were injured in the explosion and relatives of the affected families.

He vowed that the incident would be thoroughly investigated and those found guilty of dereliction of duty would be punished. He said, “We have to look at the condition of the tanker.”