One person killed and 19 hurt as tanker overturns, explodes

Temeke Assistant Regional Police Commander, Wankyo Nyigesa

At least one person died and 19 others were injured on Monday night after a fuel tanker overturned and exploded at Mbagala –Rangi Tatu area in Dar es Salaam. 

 

Temeke Assistant Regional Police Commander, Wankyo Nyigesa confirmed the incident to this paper in a telephone interview yesterday.

 

He identified the deceased as Masoud Masoud (33), a resident of Mbagala Chalambe.

 

Nyigesa averred that 19 others were injured in the same incident and were hospitalised at Temeke Referral hospital.

According to an eyewitness, the driver lost control of the tanker as he was avoiding a motorist.

 

The eyewitness told this paper that barely minutes after the tanker overturned, a mob rushed to the scene and started siphoning the petrol from the tanker which later went ablaze and ended up killing one person and injuring 19 others.

 

“I saw the driver of the tanker trying to avoide the cyclists at around 10 pm on Monday but he ended up losing control of the vehicle as a result it overturned. As the mob rushed to siphon the fuel there was no fire yet but as they continued with the exercise, fire brokeout,” the witness who preferred anonymity recalled.

 

Another witness, who is among the 19 injured people, Mukiza Balthazar said he saw the mob scrambling for fuel from the tanker but could not recall how the fire started.

 

“I was watching the mob draining the tanker but all of a sudden fire brokeout around that place and the surrounding area which has even affected me. I can’t tell how it started,” said Balthazar who was still admitted at Temeke Referral Hospital.

 

According to the Assistant Regional Police Commander, the tanker involved in the accident has registration number T464 ROMEO while the horse has registration number T347 GXG Bravo model, property of Moil Transport.

 

Nyigesa said the tanker was en route from Kigamboni to Zambia and that at the time of the accident it was being driven by Gusto Mkiga who escaped shortly after the incident.

 

Apart from the casualties, the fire also destroyed eight shops and seven motorcycles.

 

The Assistant Regional Police Commander called on the victims and the society at large to stay calm as the police continue with the investigations.

 

Deusi Kasingwa told this paper yesterday that his guesthouse and bar were completely erased by the inferno that originated from the petrol tanker.

 

Nurse in-charge at Temeke Referral Hospital, Amos Kabelege confirmed having received the casualties and the deceased.

 

He said the 19 casualties who are mainly youths, were seriously burnt in different parts of their bodies including legs, hands and faces. However, he said among the 19, only one is a woman.

 

In April 2011, 5 people were killed and 44 others seriously wounded when a tanker caught fire after crashing into a locomotive engine.

 

Reports from the scene said the tanker which was heading to Mwanza from Dar es Salaam, crashed into the train, overturned, spilt fuel which people rushed to collect.

 

The accident happened around 6:30 pm along Manyoni – Singida highway and the central railway.

 

It was during the rush to collect the fuel that the tanker exploded, killing the five people on the spot and injuring 44 others.

 

Singida Regional Police Commander, Celina Kaluba identified the tanker involved in the accident with registration number T 483 BLM with its trailer, T 312 BBH. She said the tanker was carrying 40,000 litres of petroleum.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN