26 June 2004	Saturday	07 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

TEHRAN, June 25: At least 90 people died in southeastern Iran when a fuel truck lost control and crashed into a police post, with the explosion engulfing other trucks, cars and buses, the Iranian Red Crescent said on Friday.

Officials said the toll could rise as high as 200 killed, as rescue workers scoured charred buses, cars and lorries in the gruesome task of collecting frazzled body parts.

"Ninety bodies have been recovered, but the death toll could rise further," a Red Crescent official in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Balochistan province, told Iranian media.

He said 114 injured had been evacuated from the scene of the accident, which occurred at a police post near Nosrat Abad, some 110 kilometres west of Zahedan late on Thursday night.

The flames engulfed six buses and five other trucks carrying tar or petrol, causing a massive inferno.

Another Red Crescent official, Alireza Ghadiani, put the death toll at 71. But he added that many bodies had literally melted into the ground due to the intense heat.

Provincial governor Heydar Ali Nuraye said the horror of the accident meant it would take time to establish a definitive death toll.

The official IRNA news agency said most of the dead were women and children who had stayed in the passenger buses while their husbands were being searched by police.

State television showed footage of carbonized bodies lying amidst a scene of total destruction. It said the tanker caught fire immediately after crashing, sending flames shooting out over a 50 metre radius.-AFP