A fuel tank explosion in Lebanon killed 28 people and injured 80 on Sunday as a crowd clamored for petrol, authorities and medics said, the latest catastrophe to spark outrage in the crisis-hit country.

Anger and grief collided in a crowded Beirut hospital Sunday as relatives of burn victims from a fuel tanker explosion in north Lebanon waited breathlessly for news of loved ones.

The Free Patriotic Movement on Sunday hit back at al-Mustaqbal Movement and said the owners of the blast-hit Akkar site and warehouse are close to Mustaqbal itself, adding that Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh is also responsible for the tragedy following his latest controversial decision to end fuel subsidies.

Angry residents on Sunday torched the villa of George al-Rashid, the owner of the site of the deadly blast in Akkar’s Tleil, while his son was arrested by the army.

Army troops had initially prevented the protesters from storming the building. The demonstrators returned later in larger numbers and managed to overwhelm the soldiers. The protesters also torched trucks and cars that were parked outside the villa.

Lebanon, where a fuel tank explosion killed at least 20 people Sunday, is mired in what the World Bank calls one of the world's worst economic crises since the 1850s.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati on Sunday commented on the tragic explosion in the Akkar town of Tleil.

Former prime minister Saad Hariri drew a link between the tragic Akkar and Beirut explosions in a statement shared on Twitter.

"The Akkar massacre is not different from the port massacre," he said.

A warehouse where fuel was illegally stored exploded in the Akkar town of Tleil early Sunday, killing 28 people and burning dozens more in the latest tragedy to hit the country which is in the throes of a devastating economic and political crisis.

Tleil is about 4 kilometers from the Syrian border, but it was not immediately clear if the fuel was being prepared to be smuggled to Syria, where prices are much higher compared to those in Lebanon.

A top medical center and one of Lebanon's oldest and most prestigious university hospitals has warned it may be forced to shut down in less than 48 hours due to fuel shortages, which would threaten the lives of its critically ill patients.

In a stark warning, the American University of Beirut Medical Center, said 55 patients dependent on respirators, including 15 children, and more than 100 people with renal failure who are on dialysis would be immediately threatened.