Oil tanker tragedy: PM Nawaz arrives in Bahawalpur
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will visit Victoria Hospital.
BAHWALPUR (Dunya News / AFP) - Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has arrived in Bahawalpur on Monday morning to inquire about health of those injured in Ahmadpur Sharqia oil tanker tragedy.
PM #NawazSharif reaches #Bahawalpur after cutting short his London visit in wake of unfortunate oil tanker incident pic.twitter.com/U1ElB0SkRY
— Hasan Arshad (@hasanarshad610) June 26, 2017
After his arrival, the premier was given a detailed briefing by Commissioner Bahawalpur Saqib Zafar about the tragic incident and relief activities.
The Prime Minister has left for oil tanker blast site.
It is pertinent to mention here that Nawaz Sharif has reached Bahawalpur after cutting short his London visit in the wake of unfortunate incident that occurred on Sunday morning a day before the country was due to begin Eid al-Fitr celebrations marking the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan.
The tanker carrying 40,000 litres of fuel overturned on a main highway while travelling from Karachi to Lahore, near the town of Ahmedpur East in Punjab province.
The tanker exploded in a huge fireball, killing at least 141 people and injuring scores as crowds scavenging for fuel ignored warnings to stay clear, officials and witnesses said.
Details were sketchy but some witnesses suggested the tanker had suffered a burst tyre, said regional police chief Raja Riffat.
"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," Riffat told AFP.
"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.”
Pakistan has an appalling record of fatal traffic accidents due to poor roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving.
At least 62 people including women and children were killed in southern Pakistan in 2015 when their bus collided with an oil tanker.
