Eid joy turns tearful in Pakistan as fuel lorry deaths rise to 157
BAHAWALPUR, PAKISTAN // Pakistan yesterday began Eid in mourning as the death toll in an oil tanker explosion rose to 157.
Scores of people were injured after they were caught in a fireball while scooping up spilled fuel. Dozens of relatives were waiting outside hospitals in Bahawalpur, the nearest major city, to claim the bodies of their loved ones as prime minister Nawaz Sharif visited the victims yesterday after cutting short a trip to London.
About a dozen people, carrying the charred remains of two victims wrapped in white cloth, tried to reach Mr Sharif in protest but they were stopped by security personnel.
“The day of Eid has become a day of mourning and pain for us,” Mr Sharif said outside Victoria Hospital.
He said he had ordered an inquiry and compensation of 2 million rupees (Dh70,080) for the families of the dead, and 1m rupees for the injured.
The explosion occurred on Sunday as crowds ignored warnings to stay away from the petrol lorry that had overturned on a major motorway from Karachi to Lahore, spilling about 40,000 litres of fuel.
The details remained unclear but police quoted witnesses saying that the lorry’s tyre had burst. The driver survived the crash and was taken into custody.
The accident quickly drew scores of people from a nearby village, many armed with whatever containers they could carry to scavenge the spilled fuel despite warnings from the driver and motorway police to stay away.
Minutes later the tanker exploded, engulfing the crowd and dozens of vehicles in a massive fireball that sent a plume of thick smoke into the sky.
Nahid Ahmed, a doctor at the Nishter Hospital in the city of Multan, said four of the victims that were brought from Bahawalpur had died overnight, raising the death toll to 157, and 50 more severely burnt victims were being treated.
Relatives of the dead could not contain their grief. Mumtaz Mai, 40, a widow who lived with her two nephews, was beating her chest and screaming outside Victoria Hospital after both were killed in the fire. “My world has come to an end. Where will I go now, with whom will I live? My life is but a curse,” she said. Muhammad Ayub, in his 50s, lost his brother and nephew. “We have been doomed. How can we celebrate Eid and what would it mean to us when we cannot even recognise the dead bodies of our loved ones?” he asked.
Pakistanis had been grieving for at least 77 people killed in militant attacks on Friday.
Prime minister Nawaz Sharif visits the victims after cutting short his trip to London