On 10 August 2019, a

fuel tanker 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 desi ...

explode An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume associated with an extreme outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases. Supersonic explosions created by high explosives are known ...

d in Morogoro,

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

, killing over 100 people and injuring at least 47 others. It was one of the largest disasters of its kind in Tanzania. The incident happened in the town of Morogoro, which is located west of

Dar es Salaam Dar es Salaam (; from ar, دَار السَّلَام, Dâr es-Selâm, lit=Abode of Peace) or commonly known as Dar, is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over s ...

. A fuel tanker crashed and people gathered at the accident site to collect the fuel. The tanker exploded, initially burning 60 people to death. Video footage of the incident began circulating on social media, in which many people can be seen collecting fuel in yellow containers and

jerrycan A jerrycan (also written as jerry can or jerrican) is a robust liquid container made from pressed steel (and more recently, high density polyethylene). It was designed in Germany in the 1930s for military use to hold of fuel, and saw widesp ...

s. Another 55 people were injured in the incident and many suffered serious burns.

Explosion

The explosion occurred at 8:30 am

EAT Eating (also known as consuming) is the ingestion of food, typically to provide a heterotrophic organism with energy and to allow for growth. Animals and other heterotrophs must eat in order to survive — carnivores eat other animals, herbi ...

, 20 minutes after a fuel tanker overturned while trying to avoid colliding with a motorcyclist. The crash happened near Msamvu Bus Terminal. The road on which the crash occurred connects Morogoro to the financial capital

and is heavily used. Witnesses say that a crowd of at least 150 people gathered at the scene. The crowd began collecting the fuel using yellow

s and continued even when the tanker burst into flames. A video was posted by local news channel Kwanza TV on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

, showing groups of people attempting to gather fuel around the tanker. One of the witnesses, who was identified as Daniel Ngogo, described the scene as chaotic with a huge fire which made it "challenging to rescue victims. The situation is really bad. Many people died here – even those who were not stealing fuel – because this is a busy place". At 3:00 pm EAT,

rescue operation Rescue comprises responsive operations that usually involve the saving of life, or the urgent treatment of injuries after an accident or a dangerous situation. Tools used might include search and rescue dogs, mounted search and rescue ho ...

s finished and all the bodies were removed from the scene. The regional police commissioner, Wilbard Mutafungwa, stated that many people suffered burns as a result of the explosion. Official police figures reported 75 deaths and at least 55 people injured. Most of the victims were identified as local motorcycle

taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice ...

drivers who were present at the scene and people who attempted to gather fuel. Morogoro regional commissioner Stephen Kebwe said it was the worst disaster in the region, and warned of more possible deaths.

Aftermath

Afterwards, government spokesperson Hassan Abbas said, "the rescue operations finished by 3 p.m. local time. The scene was cordoned off and all bodies were removed from the scene into a local hospital for identification."

President of Tanzania The President of the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Rais wa Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania) is the head of state and head of government of the United Republic of Tanzania. The President leads the executive branch of the Government of Tanzan ...

John Magufuli John Pombe Joseph Magufuli (29 October 1959 – 17 March 2021) was the fifth president of Tanzania, serving from 2015 until his death in 2021. He served as Minister of Works, Transport and Communications from 2000 to 2005 and 2010 to 2015 and wa ...

expressed condolences as well as dismay with how the crowd acted.

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=August 2019 2019 fires in Africa 2019 in Tanzania 2019 road incidents 2019 crimes in Tanzania 2010s road incidents in Africa August 2019 crimes in Africa August 2019 events in Africa Deaths caused by petroleum looting Explosions in 2019 Explosions in Tanzania Tanker explosion Road incidents in Tanzania Tanker explosions Fires in Tanzania 2019 disasters in Tanzania

Explosion

Aftermath

See also

References