Ahmedpur East tragedy- Death toll rose to 201 as six more died,200 missing

MULTAN, July 3rd:Death toll in the tragic Ahmedpur Sharqia inferno incident has risen to 201. Dr. Naheed Anjum Chaudhry incharge of Pak Italian Modern Burn Centre told that Zohaib Ahmed  (12),Muhammad Shan (20)a student of Ist year,Shiraz (25) and Waqas Saghir (15) died till  sunday night,Two patients idetified as 40-year-old Saeed Ahmed and 35-year-old Hameeda lost the battle to life in Lahore’s Jinnah hospital. Dr.Naheed said that 46 patients have so far been succumbed to burns in Multan centre. Total 65 patients were shifted to Multan last sunday who have received 50 to 80 percent burns.Of them 19 patients are still under treatment. People of the area submitted a list of missing people who could not be traced from the lists of the deceased or injured persons. Assistant Commissioner Ahmedpur east Mehr Abdul Rauf told this scribe that we are waiting for the DNA test reports for the identification of victims.He said that more than 40 people are missing whose name is not included in the list of deceased nor in in injured persons.The oil tanker of Shell (Pakistan) overturned last Sunday on a main highway from Karachi to Vehari while carrying some 50,000 litres of fuel. It exploded minutes later as crowds from a nearby village gathered to scavenge for fuel, despite warnings by the driver as well as motorway police to stay away. The accident took place in Ahmedpur Sharqia tehsil near Bahawalpur.The Shell oil company had submitted its primary probe into the oil tanker fire to the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra)which was rejected by Ogra describing it incomplete and short and it  has already activated its third party inspectors and is awaiting its findings.The report revealed “Shell contracted Tank Lorry No TLJ-352 involved in the incident was carrying 50,000 litres of motor gasoline. The transporter was Marwat Enterprises and was taking the fuel from Keamari to Vehari. The location of the incident near village Safeerwala was six kilometres from Ahmedpur Sharqya, approximately 794 kilometres from Keamari Installation.”Talking about the key factor, the report said: “The tank lorry was travelling at 35km/hr [We have the tracker report as evidence], which is within the speed limit. "As per our initial hauler investigation, a passenger bus after overtaking the tank lorry applied harsh break in front of the tank lorry. To avoid collision from behind, the driver moved the tank lorry to left hand side of the road on the soft shoulder, which resulted in rollover of the tank lorry.”It said, “Sadly, not realising the huge safety risk involved, people from the nearby village gathered to collect the spilled product in buckets/containers. Despite utmost effort by the local traffic authorities to manage the incident, a chaos erupted, which resulted in such a grave tragedy.”

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