More than a dozen people die and nearly 100 are injured in a explosion and fire near an oil pipeline near a village in Pakoku Township in central Burma on Sunday, according to local residents.
The blaze took place when local villagers were collecting oil leaking from the pipeline.
“While the villagers were skimming the oil, the fire broke out. Eight people were killed and about 70 were injured,” said a local resident. Accounts of the number of dead and injured varied.
A doctor at a local hospital told The Irrawaddy that he knew of two people dead and 21 people injured in the accident who were are being treated at the hospital.
The blaze took place when local villagers were collecting oil leaking from the pipeline.
“While the villagers were skimming the oil, the fire broke out. Eight people were killed and about 70 were injured,” said a local resident. Accounts of the number of dead and injured varied.
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| Flames reach into the sky on Sunday night after a fire in which more than a dozen people died and scores were injured. (Photo: AFP) |
Many of the injured were from Kyaunchaung and Myit Chaykyar villages in Pakoku, said local sources, who added that many of the injured refused to go to a hospital because of fear the authorities would take action against them.
The Agency France Presse news agency reported that 14 people died and more than 100 were injured in the fire. About 200 villagers were collecting oil from the leaking state-owned pipeline when someone lit a flame to see in the dark, said a local resident.
Authorities shut down the 20-mile long pipeline after the fire ignited.
