Residents and officials said that many of the victims were travelers passing through the town who had stopped to take part in what seemed like an opportunity to collect free fuel.  The town is on a primary route to Lahore, the capital of the province of Punjab, which was where the truck had been headed. 

Government officials blamed poverty and illiteracy for the crowd’s behavior. 

“Those were poor people who went to collect fuel in utensils and buckets,” the Punjab chief minister, Shahbaz Sharif, said at the briefing with the prime minister. “ It is the result of illiteracy,” he continued, adding that several decades of endemic corruption were also a factor. 

Officials said most of the bodies had been burned beyond recognition.  Several others were 40 percent to 80 percent burned, making identification difficult. 

The chief minister, who is in his third term, said that hospital authorities had tagged the bodies and that forensic examination, including DNA tests, would be carried out in the next few days. “ Meanwhile, the dead are being buried, as it is not possible to keep them in cold storage for long due to the hot weather,” he said.  Once forensic reports are available, the chief minister said, relatives would be informed. 

At Victoria Hospital in Bahawalpur, many people waited to learn the fate of their relatives. 

The bodies of 125 victims were placed in the cold storage of the hospital, officials said. 

Shaista Bibi said she was searching for her 10-year-old son, who had been missing since the fire. “ They are not telling me where my son is,” she said. “ At least tell me whether he is alive or not.” 

She noted that her son was too young to use fuel. “ Where would he use it?”  she asked. “ It was just fun for the children.  They were just collecting something for free.”