Local media reported a tragic incident in central Liberia where over 40 individuals are feared to have lost their lives following a tanker truck explosion.
According to the country’s chief medical officer, Dr. Francis Kateh, the tanker, transporting gasoline, crashed and overturned into a ditch near Totota, approximately 130 kilometers (80 miles) away from the capital, Monrovia.
Speaking to Super Bongese TV, Dr. Kateh expressed the challenges in accurately assessing the total casualties due to some victims being reduced to ashes. However, he estimated that the toll from the incident surpassed 40 fatalities.
“We have our team going from home to home to check those that are missing,” he told AFP.
Police earlier put the death toll at 15 and said at least 30 people 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.
Another police officer, Malvin Sackor, said that after the crash, some locals had begun to take the leaking gas when the tanker exploded, killing some and wounding others.
He said that the 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,” Massaquoi said.
“He told them not to climb on top of the tanker and that they should stop hitting the tanker…. but some people were even using screwdrivers to put holes on the tank.”
(AFP)
