At least 57 people were killed when a fuel tanker exploded in Tanzania on Saturday, AFP reported. The explosion occurred when the vehicle overturned near the town of Morogoro, a settlement around 200 km west of the capital Dar es Salaam.
“There was a huge blast which has so far killed at least 57 people,” Regional Police Chief Willbrod Mtafungwa told reporters.
The police said many of those killed and injured were taxi drivers and those who had been siphoning petrol from the tanker when it burst into flames.
“The Morogoro region had never experienced a disaster of such magnitude,” Morogoro Governor Stephen Kebwe was quoted as saying by AFP. He said the tanker truck overturned on the roadside and the “fuel began to flow freely”.
“We have mobilised all the doctors at the Morogoro regional hospital so the wounded can be treated,” the governor added.
“The situation is really bad,” Daniel Ngogo, an eye witness, told Reuters. “Many people died, here even those who were not stealing fuel because this is a busy place.” He said the fire was huge and it was a challenge to rescue other victims.
The road connecting Morogoro with Dar es Salaam is on a major route for transporting cargo and fuel from the port, which is the country’s commercial capital.
Last month, at least 45 people were killed and more than 100 injured when a petrol tanker crashed and exploded as people gathered fuel.
Nearly 80 people died in May in a similar incident near the airport of Niger’s capital Niamey.
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