BAHAWALPUR - With the death of 15 more people, the toll in Pakistan’s oil tanker fire rose to 190 on Friday, making it one of the deadliest accidents in the country. The patients breathed their last at Lahore, Multan and Faisalabad burn centres.

The death toll rose to 190 after more burn victims succumbed to their wounds in the hospital, Deputy Commissioner Rao Taslim Ahmad said.

Some of the victims who were rushed to hospitals following the blaze are still in critical condition, Ahmad added.

The disaster occurred when a tanker carrying 40,000 litres of fuel overturned after trying to make a sharp turn while travelling from Karachi to Lahore on the main highway and hundreds of residents of a nearby village gathered to collect the leaking fuel.

“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,” a police official said at the time.

The cause of the fire has not been made official yet, but it is believed that a spark from the many cars and motorcycles that raced to the scene ignited the fuel. Firefighters had fought the flames for over two hours before extinguishing the fire.