IRAQ: At least 29 people were killed when a blast ripped through scavengers siphoning petrol from pools around a breach in a disused pipeline in central Iraq late on Monday, health officials said.
Dozens more were missing and may have been killed.
A reporter at the rural site near Diwaniya, 180km (110 miles) south of Baghdad, saw 15 charred and mutilated bodies, including that of a boy. The explosion wounded 26 people, who were taken to hospitals with severe burns.
"Some of the wounded have burns on 75 per cent of their bodies," said health official Hamid Jaafi. He said he expected the death toll to rise. Relatives had reported between 30 and 40 people missing after the explosion, pushing the possible death toll to about 70.
Witnesses said the blast, which is under investigation, occurred at 11pm while a group of people were scooping fuel from two large pools.
Despite having the world's third-largest reserves of oil, Iraq is gripped by a fuel crisis blamed on sabotage attacks, ageing infrastructure and rampant corruption. Fuel prices have soared as the Iraqi government phases out subsidies under an International Monetary Fund deal.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said the government was working to ease the crisis, a source of anger for Iraqis. Smuggling and a black market for petrol products are thriving.
"I bless the enormous efforts that [ the oil ministry] has made in overcoming the fuel crisis that citizens are facing lately," he said at the oil ministry in Baghdad.
The government wants to liberalise import rules on fuel products. An oil ministry official said the pipe was one of many across Iraq that are out of operation due to the shortages. Residue left in the pipe could have caused the blast, he said.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi government has resolved a dispute over the sharing of oil revenues across the country but differences remain over who will hand out lucrative oil contracts. Deputy prime minister Barham Salih said the contentious issue of oil revenues was resolved during recent negotiations for a new law to regulate Iraq's oil and gas industry.
"Remarkably, we have been able to settle oil revenues," he said. Mr Salih did not provide details on how the revenues would be distributed or which areas would get the most money.