Death toll from last week’s gas tanker explosion in Pakistan rises to 18

MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) — The death toll from a gas tanker truck explosion that happend last week in central Pakistan has jumped to 18, police and hospital officials said on Tuesday.

Police initially said five people were killed and about two dozen others were injured when a truck carrying liquified petroleum gas caught fire near an industrial area in Multan, a city in the country’s most populous Punjab province.

Mohammad Wasim, a doctor at Multan’s Nishtar Hospital, said another 13 people have died in the week since the Jan. 27 blast. He added that another seven people who were injured in the blast were still in critical condition.

Mohammad Bashir, a senior police official, said the blast also damaged nearby shops and homes, and the deaths were caused by the fire and the collapse of several roofs.

He said an initial police investigation showed that the gas tanker truck had exploded while some people were transferring LPG from the truck to cylinders after bribing the driver, who has been arrested.