Death toll in Pakistan's oil-tanker fire rises to 190 a week after tragic accident

The death toll from an oil tanker explosion in central Pakistan has risen to 190, hospital and government officials said on Friday, as 16 more people succumbed to their injuries one week after the deadly accident. 

"The death toll from the tanker fire incident is now 190 after expiry of more injured people," Tahira Parveen, medical superintendent of Bahawalpur Victoria hospital, told AFP.

A senior local administration official confirmed the toll.

The tanker overturned on a main highway from Karachi to Lahore early on Sunday while carrying some 40,000 litres of fuel. 

It exploded minutes later as crowds from a nearby village gathered to collect the spilled fuel, despite warnings by the driver as well as motorway police to stay away.

"When it turned over the residents of the nearby village of Ramzanpur Joya rushed to the site with buckets and other containers, and a large number of people on motorcycles also came and started collecting the spilling fuel," said regional police chief Raja Riffat.

"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."

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

The tragedy marked a grim start to Eid, the celebrations closing the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan last weekend.

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