At least 20 people have been killed and dozens more injured in a fuel tanker explosion in Akkar in northern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Red Cross. The explosion occurred early on Sunday morning.
The official National News Agency said that a container of fuel that the army had confiscated exploded following scuffles between “residents who gathered around the container to fill up gasoline” overnight.
Yassine Metlej, an employee at an Akkar hospital, told AFP that the facility had received at least seven corpses and dozens of burn victims.
“The corpses are so charred that we can’t identify them. Some have lost their faces, others their arms.” He added that the hospital had to turn away most of the wounded because it is unable to treat severe burns.
Lebanon is suffering from a severe fuel shortage. Hospitals have warned that they are low on fuel and may be forced to shut down.
The crisis deteriorated dramatically this week after the central bank decided to end subsidies for fuel products, a decision that will likely lead to price hikes of almost all commodities in Lebanon, already in the throes of soaring poverty and hyperinflation.
The explosion on Sunday was the deadliest in the country since the August 2020 blast at Beirut’s port which killed at least 214, wounded thousands and destroyed parts of the capital.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency