The death toll from the Bahawalpur oil tanker explosion climbed to 206 on Monday, according to medical sources.

Apart from the more than 150 people killed immediately in the inferno, more than 100 people had suffered burn injuries in the incident which took place on June 25.

They had been shifted to District Headquarters Hospital in Ahmedpur Sharqia, Nishtar Hospital in Multan, Victoria Hospital in Bahawalpur and Jinnah Hospital in Lahore.

According to hospital sources, 65 injured are still recovering in the hospitals.

In Victoria Hospital, 25 patients are said to be in stable condition. However, nine patients in Lahore and 17 in Multan are in critical condition.

Fourteen patients are being treated at DHQ Hospital in Ahmedpur Sharqia.

Patients at Lahore's Jinnah Hospital are undergoing skin transplants, DawnNews reported.

Professor Rashid Ayaz at Jinnah Hospital told journalists that the hospital had received a donation of skin grafts from the United States on Sunday night.

He added that the hospital had enough skin grafts for all patients recovering at the hospital in Lahore, and two operations had already been performed with patients recovering under anaesthesia.

Three more operations will be conducted on Monday, he said.

The doctor claimed that the hospital was one of the best for the treatment of burn victims and had been operating for a year. He added that skin graft facilities were available in Multan as well.

The disaster occurred when a tanker carrying 40,000 litres of fuel overturned after trying to make a sharp turn while travelling from Karachi to Lahore on the main highway, and hundreds of residents of a nearby village gathered to collect the leaking fuel.

“After about 10 minutes the tanker exploded in a huge fireball and enveloped the people collecting petrol. It was not clear how the fire started,” a police official said at the time.

The cause of the fire has not been made official yet, but it is believed that a spark from the many cars and motorcycles that raced to the scene may have ignited the fuel. Firefighters fought the flames for over two hours before extinguishing the fire.

Motorway policemen Taqqi Haider and Muhammad Irfan, along with the driver of the oil tanker, had tried to stop people from gathering around the overturned vehicle.

They also used a public address system to order them to vacate the site.

In a statement recorded before the police shortly before he passed away on Wednesday, Gul Muhammad, the driver of the tanker, confirmed that he had tried his best to stop people from gathering around the heavy vehicle but no one had paid attention.

Sources in the Motorway Police earlier told Dawn that the tanker had turned over after a sleep-deprived Gul Muhammad dozed off while driving the vehicle.

National Highway and Motorway Police authorities on Thursday suspended six officers, including a deputy superintendent of police, for negligence and keeping their senior officers in the dark (when the oil tanker overturned and caught fire).

Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has constituted a four-member inquiry committee to investigate the inferno.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met the victims of the tragedy on Monday and told reporters that the government would provide jobs to those who were injured in the explosion and relatives of the affected families.

He vowed that the incident would be thoroughly investigated and those found guilty of dereliction of duty would be punished. He said, "We have to look at the condition of the tanker."