Death toll in Bahawalpur tanker blast rises to over 200

The death toll from a powerful oil tanker explosion in 
the east of Pakistan late last month has risen to at least 
205 people as more victims succumbed to their wounds, government officials said.

The truck carrying fuel overturned on a main highway
 linking Karachi to Lahore on June 25. It exploded minutes later as residents from a nearby village gathered to collect 
fuel from the vehicle.

"The death toll from the tanker fire incident is now 205 
after the expiry of more injured people," senior local administration Rao Tasleem in Bahawalpur, the nearest 
city, told the AFP news agency on Monday.

A doctor at Bahawalpur's Victoria Hospital, Asim 
Bukhari, put the toll at 206 after a new death later on 
Monday,though that was unconfirmed by official 
government authorities.

Following the blast, local officials had given a death 
toll of at least 153.

Locals said that several people who were injured in the
incident lost their lives due to unavailability of burns 
units at the nearby hospitals as dozens were transported 
to Multan and state capital Lahore hospitals for better treatment.

Some 125 unidentified victims have already been buried
following a mass funeral at the site of the fire as their 
bodies were badly charred and beyond recognition.

Motorway police spokesman Imran Shah has 
said that a government inquiry into the incident had
 found at least five police officials guilty of hiding 
information.

According to initial investigations, a cigarette is 
suspected to have caused the massive blaze.

Analysts said the behaviour of the crowds - 
scavenging for fuel - is not surprising, given the 
problem of fuel shortages and poverty.

"If you go to these areas of Bahawalpur … the poverty level
here rises up to 65 percent at times," Sabir Shah, a journalist
at GEO TV in Lahore, told Al Jazeera last month.
"In these conditions, with these figures, how can 
you expect people not to collect cooking fuel for
 themselves? This petrol is being used as cooking fuel by many people in nearby fields."

The tragedy marked a grim start to Eid al-Fitr, the
celebrations marking the end of the Muslim holy month 
of Ramadan.

Pakistan has a poor record of fatal traffic accidents 
due to poor roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving.