Locals pilfer fuel after oil tanker crashes in Vehari

VEHARI: An oil tanker crashed on Vehari’s Sinchawala road on Sunday, following which nearby residents reached the site and began taking out fuel.

Geo News footage showed locals using a drain to take out fuel and loading it onto drums. Thousands of litres of diesel is reported to be present inside the tanker.

There were no reports as to the whereabouts of the tanker's driver. 

No officials of the police or rescue services had reached the site, located on the Vehari-Burewala link road, till the filing of this report.

More than 200 people have so far died after an oil tanker crashed on the national highway in Ahmedpur East, Bahawalpur on June 25.

A large number of people were charred to death on the spot as the overturned oil tanker exploded while passersby and locals had gathered to collect the fuel leaking from the tanker.

Vehari is located around 150 kilometres from Ahmedpur East, where the deadly oil tanker crash occurred late last month. 

After an investigation into the Ahmedpur East tragedy, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) held a private oil company responsible and fined it Rs10 million.

The road accident was caused by "non-professional driving/vehicle being lesser than required specs", the authority said in its probe report.

"The report shows that they [private oil company] have completely ignored the safety standards of the vehicles procured from the contractors," OGRA spokesman Imran Ghaznavi told Reuters.

With input from Reuters