Lucifer's Light
06-25-2017, 11:23 PM
At least 153 people were killed and around 140 injured in a fire that broke out after an oil tanker overturned in central Pakistan and crowds rushed to collect the fuel.
Nearby villagers ran toward the overturned tanker with jerrycans and utensils to take the leaking fuel, Rizwan Naseer, the head of the Punjab province's rescue services, said. It is thought some of them were smoking cigarettes, which caused the blaze.
A loudspeaker atop a local mosque alerted villagers to the leaking fuel, and scores raced to the site with jerrycans, said Rana Mohammad Salim, deputy commissioner of Bahawalpur.
Abdul Malik, a local police officer also among the first to arrive, described a 'horrible scene,' adding: 'I have never seen anything like it in my life. Victims trapped in the fireball. They were screaming for help.'
He said that when the fire subsided, 'we saw bodies everywhere, so many were just skeletons. The people who were alive were in really bad shape.
Nearby villagers ran toward the overturned tanker with jerrycans and utensils to take the leaking fuel, Rizwan Naseer, the head of the Punjab province's rescue services, said. It is thought some of them were smoking cigarettes, which caused the blaze.
A loudspeaker atop a local mosque alerted villagers to the leaking fuel, and scores raced to the site with jerrycans, said Rana Mohammad Salim, deputy commissioner of Bahawalpur.
Abdul Malik, a local police officer also among the first to arrive, described a 'horrible scene,' adding: 'I have never seen anything like it in my life. Victims trapped in the fireball. They were screaming for help.'
He said that when the fire subsided, 'we saw bodies everywhere, so many were just skeletons. The people who were alive were in really bad shape.