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The worst oil tanker fires around the world

Rescue workers gather near the burnt remains of an oil tanker which caught fire following an accident on a highway near the town of Ahmedpur East, some 670 kilometres (416 miles) from Islamabad on June 25, 2017 © AFP / STR

Paris, France, Jun 25 – At least 123 people were killed and scores injured in central Pakistan early Sunday when a fire erupted after crowds rushed to collect fuel from an overturned oil tanker.

Here are the most serious such incidents around the world over the past decade. In many of the most deadly of these, people were trying to recover spilt fuel and were caught in the subsequent fire.

– November 17, 2016, Mozambique: At least 93 killed and dozens wounded when an oil tanker carrying petrol explodes in the west of the country. Hundreds of people were trying to siphon off the fuel at the time.

– May 8, 2016, Afghanistan: At least 73 killed after two buses collided with an oil tanker, sparking a massive fire on a road in the east of the country. Most victims died in the fire.

– September 16, 2015, South Sudan: At least 203 killed and 150 injured as people try to recover fuel from an oil tanker following a road accident at Maridi, about 300 kilometres (200 miles) west of the capital Juba.

– January 11, 2015, Pakistan: At least 62 people, including women and children, killed in a fire after a coach collides with an oil tanker travelling on the wrong side of the road, on the outskirts of Karachi.

Map of Pakistan locating Ahmedpur East, site of a deadly oil tanker fire © AFP / AFP

– July 12, 2012, Nigeria: At least 104 people killed and some 50 wounded as they tried to recover fuel from a petrol tanker following an accident in River State, in the south of the country. Most were killed in the subsequent fire.

– July 2, 2010, DR Congo: Petrol tanker blast at Sange, in the east of the country, kills 292. Some victims were trying to recover the fuel after a road accident; others were watching the World Cup football tournament in a nearby hall.

– October 9, 2009, Nigeria: Between 70 and 80 killed in southeast Anambra State. A petrol tanker exploded, the flames engulfing several other vehicles.

– March 26, 2007, Nigeria: At least 93 killed in northern Kaduna State as people try to recover fuel from an oil tanker following an accident.

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