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Aizawl, Nov. 7 (PTI): The death toll in the oil tanker fire in Mizoram climbed to eight after one more person died while undergoing treatment, police said on Monday.
The oil tanker, carrying 22,000 litres of petrol, overturned on National Highway-6 at Turial near Aizawl around 3 pm on October 29. It caught fire and exploded around 6 pm when locals and motorists passing by were collecting petrol leaking from the tanker.
Four people were killed on the spot, and 17 others were injured, police said.
The 25-year-old man from Thingsul Tlangnuam village, about 60 kilometres east of Aizawl, died on Sunday evening while undergoing treatment at the Zoram Medical College (ZMC), they said.
Of the 17 people injured in the mishap, a 37-year-old man who sustained 100 per cent burns and a 41-year-old man who had at least 80 per cent burn injuries succumbed on November 3. Another victim, aged 23, died the next day.
The death toll is likely to go further up as the conditions of some of those still undergoing treatment are critical, police said.
Police suspect that someone might have lit a cigarette when people were stealing petrol from the oil tanker, leading to the massive fire in which a taxi and three scooters were also gutted.