The catastrophe of Sange was the explosion of a

tank truck A tank truck, gas truck, fuel truck, or tanker truck (American English) or tanker (British English) is a motor vehicle designed to carry liquids or gases on roads. The largest such vehicles are similar to railroad tank cars, which are also des ...

on 2 July 2010 in South Kivu, in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. The truck overturned in the village of Sange and later exploded, resulting in at least 230 deaths and 196 injured.

Crash

The tanker overturned in the village of Sange, near the Congo-

Burundi Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili language, Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French language, French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the ...

border. Mende Omalanga, the Democratic Republic of Congo's Minister of Communications, claimed that the tanker was trying to overtake a bus. A local police officer reported that the driver was traveling at an "excessive speed".

Explosion

An explosion occurred as villagers attempted to collect the fuel that was spilling from the overturned vehicle. "There was a crush (of people) and a petrol leak". The minister of communications, Lambert Omalanga, said that one local resident was smoking a cigarette, a spark from which ignited the fuel. Many mud and grass huts were destroyed in the subsequent fire. Among the dead were 36 women and 61 children. Some of the injured had severe burn wounds. A medical source said that the local hospitals "do not have necessary logistical materials to treat those who are seriously injured". It was initially reported that five of the dead were

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

peacekeepers, but this was reported later as being incorrect.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:South Kivu road tanker explosion Explosions in 2010 South Kivu road tanker explosion, 2010 2010 South Kivu fuel tank explosion South Kivu road tanker explosion, 2010 Deaths caused by petroleum looting July 2010 events in Africa

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

Tanker explosions

Crash

Explosion

See also

References