KARACHI: At least 36 people burned to death on Saturday when two passenger coaches and a pickup rammed into an overturned truck on RCD Highway near Hub in Balochistan. All the vehicles caught fire after the collision.

At least one coach and the truck were allegedly carrying oil smuggled from Iran, which caused the devastating blaze.

Hub, a town in Lasbela district, is 30km north of Karachi.

All bodies were charred beyond recognition. Some of the victims were said to be employees of the Pakistan Navy.

The two coaches were travelling towards Karachi while the oil tanker was going in the opposite direction.

(According to AFP, the disaster unfolded after one of the coaches collided with the tanker. “The coach and the tanker had a head-on collision and the tanker turned over, but the situation got worse when the coach coming from behind rammed into the first coach as it skidded on the oil spilled on the road,” according to Akbar Haripal, an official of the local administration.)

Local people attributed some of the deaths to delay in rescue efforts and lack of medical facilities in Hub.

“We have received at least 36 bodies at our morgue in Sohrab Goth, Karachi,” Edhi Foundation official Anwar Kazmi told Dawn.

He said all the bodies were beyond recognition and it was difficult even to identify anyone as a man, woman or child.

Hasil Khan of Hub police told Dawn that the truck overturned after its tyre burst on a damaged section of the highway. Two coaches and the pickup smashed into the truck.

Since some vehicles were carrying oil and diesel in drums and tanks on their roofs, it triggered a massive fire due to which the casualties occurred, Hasil Khan said.

He said the cleaner of the truck and the driver of one coach had reportedly survived, but they managed to flee the scene since the police reached the place around half an hour after the accident.

“At least 26 people died on the spot,” the official said.

Witnesses said the truck carrying smuggled oil overturned when its driver applied brakes on the potholed road in Bagar area. Oil and diesel spilled on the road.

In the meantime, a speedy coach of the Azad Dasht company coming from Gwadar hit the truck. Another coach of the Al-Aziz company coming from Quetta and a Mazda pickup also rammed into the vehicles.

Fire engulfed the Azad Dasht coach which too was allegedly carrying smuggled oil.

According to locals, there were three fire tenders in Hub but only one of them was in working condition.

Due to delay in fire-fighting efforts, most of the passengers of the Azad Dasht coach were burnt to death.

Some of the injured passengers were taken to Hub Civil Hospital, which lacked good medical facilities. The area people said the hospital provided only first aid to the injured and referred them to hospitals in Karachi.

Seven of the injured were taken to Karachi’s Civil Hospital where two of them were pronounced dead, Sindh Health Secretary Iqbal Hussain Durrani said.

Three men in their 30s, who have suffered 83 to 100 per cent burn injuries, have been admitted to the burns centre and two wounded, including a nine-year old boy, to the orthopaedic ward.

There are two check-posts of customs and Coast Guards in Korka and Winder areas, but they have failed to curb oil smuggling.

But a police official in Lasbela district told the media that because of a limited number of petrol pumps on the highway, transporters carried fuel on the roofs of their vehicles.

Anwar Kazmi, the Edhi Foundation official, said the victims had died of burn injuries. He said usually accidents occurred on highways in early hours of morning because some drivers fell asleep.

He called for restricting open sale of smuggled oil to curb smuggling and avoid such accidents.

A spokesperson said usually navy employees travelled on the highway at weekends to go to Karachi. Unconfirmed reports said around 10 navy employees were on the Azad Dasht coach.

Some navy officials had visited the Edhi morgue, but since the bodies were not recognisable, they decided to get their DNA test conducted.