The toll may continue to rise
The patients breathed their last at Lahore, Multan and Faisalabad burn centres.At least 120 people including women and children were killed on the spot and 140 injured last week a day before Eid when they rushed to collect leaking fuel from a crashed oil tanker in Bahawalpur, some 400 km from Lahore. Quoting doctors, he said "it will be a miracle if they survived".Video images of the people gathered to collect petrol from the overturned oil tanker emerged showing young and old people filling their bikes with the spilled oil and collecting it in bottles.A video before the incident also emerged on social media showing that a man was smoking a cigarette and he inadvertently threw its butt.The driver, who died on Wednesday, could not record his statement as he had received 90 per cent burn injuries, a Punjab government spokesman said."Such patients are vulnerable to infection which is most common cause of mortality in burn patients," the doctor said."The death toll in the oil tanker inferno on Thursday rose to 175 as 10 more succumbed to their injuries.
The toll may continue to rise as most of the injured, over 60 people, have received 60 to 100 per cent burn injuries," a senior official Jam Sajjad said.Lahore: With the death of 10 more people, the toll in Pakistans oil tanker fire rose to 175 today, making it one of the deadliest accidents in the country.Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said "illiteracy and poverty" is a reason behind this incident.According to a preliminary report, the tragedy might have been averted had the motorway police reached there on time and cordoned off the area.So far, 125 people have been laid to rest after establishing their identity through DNA test, he said, adding that the identification of others was underway.A senior doctor at the Jinnah Hospital in Lahore said many burnt patients are not kept in isolation rooms because of shortage of such rooms in burn centres in the hospitals in Punjab province.The patients having 60 to 100 per cent burns are being anaesthetised, Sajjad said.The tanker, which was headed for Lahore, overturned on the national highway after one of its tyres burst and the driver lost control over it.The leaking fuel was even flowing along the highway in the fields. Suddenly, the tanker exploded and within seconds the fire erupted giving no chance to the people present there to leave the place. The preliminary report also said: "The fire broke out after someone lit a China غير مجاز مي باشدmetic jars cigarette among the victims and threw its butt". A number of people were seen sitting near the fields collecting fuel in cans and bottles.
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