Some local elders and a policeman had been asking the people not to collect the oil and run away because of the possible threat, but people did not listen to them, the eyewitness added.
Imran Shah, spokesman of Pakistan Motorway Police, said that initial investigation suggested that the fire broke out after someone on the spot lit a cigarette. Further probe into the incident is underway, he said.
"Soon after the incident, our teams responded. We turned the traffic to some other roads, and we tried to stop the crowd, but they were in hundreds and did not listen to us, so we were helpless," said Shah.
Three fire engines were dispatched to the site following the report of the oil tanker fire, said local fire department officials, adding that it took them hours to put off the fire completely.
Soon after the incident, dozens of ambulances rushed to the site and shifted the bodies and injured to the hospitals.
Four helicopters were used to airlift the critically injured people to the hospitals in other cities due to the lack of doctors and facilities for burn injuries in the local hospitals. Later on, a C-130 airplane of Pakistan air force was used to shift the highly critically injured to Islamabad.
Both Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed deep sorrow over the loss of so many precious lives in the incident on the eve of Eidul-Fitr, a Muslim festival observed at the end of holy fasting month of Ramadan.
【国际英语资讯:143 killed, 156 injured in Pakistan oil tanker fire】相关文章:
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2020-09-15
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