Lebanon buries victims of fuel tank blast

The explosion on Sunday in Tleil burnt crowds seeking for petrol

Relatives on Wednesday carry coffins during the funeral of four victims from the Shraytih family in the village of Al Daouseh, who were killed in the petrol tanker explosion in Akkar, north Lebanon. EPAShow less

Families on Wednesday laid to rest victims of a fuel tanker blast that killed at least 28 people in northern Lebanon, amid anger and sorrow over the crisis-hit country's latest tragedy.

The explosion on Sunday in Tleil, in the Akkar region, burnt crowds seeking petrol that the army was distributing as severe fuel shortages have paralysed a country also beset by shortages of medicine and bread.

The victims included soldiers and Akkar residents who went to Tleil after midnight to fill plastic containers with petrol straight from a fuel tank that exploded in circumstances that remain unclear.

The tank was among supplies confiscated by the military, which has lately seized fuel from hoarders across the country.

The disaster added to an economic crisis described by the World Bank as one of the world's worst in modern times, and came after an explosion of poorly stored fertiliser chemicals at Beirut port last summer, which killed more than 220 people.

Akkar, one of Lebanon's poorest regions, buried several blast victims on Wednesday, AFP reported.

The village of Al Daouseh held funerals for four of its dead, all of whom are from the Shraytih family.

"They died for petrol. If we had fuel this would have never happened," Mouin Shraytih, who was burying two sons, aged 16 and 20, told AFP.

"Political leaders and officials should consider what it is like to have two young boys and find them burned and charred in front of your own eyes."

Corpses from the tanker blast were taken from hospitals that were hit by power and telecoms cuts, with even landlines disrupted.

Dozens gathered at the Shraytih family's home when a convoy of vehicles carrying the corpses arrived from a nearby hospital.

Shots were fired into the air as residents threw rice and flowers over the coffins.

Fawaz Shraytih was burying two brothers, both army soldiers.

"What happened is because of deprivation. Akkar is a deprived region," Mr Shraytih said. "All we do is pay with our blood."

He said most of the village's male population were soldiers. There were eight soldiers among his immediate family.

Nearly 80 people were injured in the blast, medics said, many with burns that further overwhelmed hospitals struggling to function without electricity.

Foreign countries and UN agencies have rushed emergency aid to help exhausted health workers cope with the new influx of serious injuries, and run DNA tests to identify charred remains.

A plane was due to arrive in Lebanon on Wednesday to fly severe burns victims to Turkey, the official National News Agency said.

Lebanon, a country of more than 6 million, is struggling with soaring poverty rates. The UN says 78 per cent of the population live below the poverty line.

The Lebanese pound has lost 90 per cent of its black market value against the dollar, while food prices have rises by up to 400 per cent.

The country braced for higher inflation rates after central bank governor Riad Salameh said last week that the lender could no longer afford fuel subsidies.

Despite the crisis, bitterly divided leaders have yet to agree on a new Cabinet, a year on from when the previous one resigned after the Beirut blast.