Lebanon fuel tank explosion kills 28

A fuel tank blast in Lebanon early on Sunday killed 28 people and injured nearly 80, authorities and medics said, burning a crowd clamouring for petrol in the crisis-hit country.

The tragedy in the remote north overwhelmed medical facilities and heaped new misery on a nation already beset by an economic crisis and severe fuel shortages that have crippled hospitals and caused long power cuts.

It revived bitter memories of an enormous explosion at Beirut port last August that killed more than 200 people and destroyed swathes of the capital.

An adviser to the health ministry said the death toll from the blast in Al-Tleil village in the Akkar region had climbed to 28. The Lebanese Red Cross said 79 others were injured.