Staff Reporter.
@AFPPhoto.
A leaking tanker truck exploded earlier this week as people gathered to collect gasoline, killing more than 40 people, Liberian authorities said Thursday.
Tuesday’s explosion also injured at least 83 people in the town of Totota in the central West African country, according to health authorities.
Many of the dead were buried in a mass grave on Wednesday because their remains were unrecognizable, said Dr. Cynthia Blapook, a health official in Bong County. Health authorities said it was difficult to confirm the exact number of deaths due to the burned state of the bodies.
Chief Medical Officer Francis Kateh told local news on Wednesday that it was difficult to determine the number of victims because some had been reduced to ashes, but he estimates that over 40 people were killed in the incident.
“We have our team going from home to home to check those that are missing,” he told the French news agency AFP.
Police had earlier put the death toll at 15 and said that at least 30 others were injured as locals gathered at the scene.
“There were lots of people that got burned,” said Prince B Mulbah, deputy inspector-general for the Liberia National Police.
According to United Nations figures, poor road safety and weak infrastructure have made sub-Saharan Africa the world’s deadliest region for crashes, with the fatality rate three times higher than the European average.
After Tuesday’s crash, some locals took the leaking gas when the tanker exploded, another police officer, Malvin Sackor, said. He added that police were still gathering the total number of injured and killed.
An eyewitness from Totota, Aaron Massaquoi, told AFP that “people climbed all on top of the truck taking the gas, while some of them had irons hitting the tanker for it to burst for them to get gas.”
“People were all around the truck and the driver of the truck told them that the gas that was spilling they could take that … but some people were even using screwdrivers to pit holes on the tank”.
Source: Fullview and News Agencies.