While 50 people have died already, 100 are nursing burns after the tragic accident of an oil tanker that collided with a vehicle on an arterial highway on Saturday in the west of DR Congo a revelation from the acting governor of the region according to hindustantimes.
“We have about 50 dead and a 100 people have suffered second degree burns,” said Atou Matabuana, the interim governor of Kongo Central region. He added that officials were preparing to identify the charred bodies and bury them.
The accident occurred on a highway linking the capital Kinshasa to the country’s sole port at Matadi on the Atlantic Ocean.
The UN’s Okapi radio said “the flames spread rapidly engulfing nearby houses.” Overloaded trucks carrying goods as well as oil tankers regularly ply this highway.
Roads in the central African nation have often been neglected after years of war.The city of Kisantu is about 75 miles (120km) south-west of Kinshasa. Matadi, at the other end of the highway, is on an estuary that leads to the Atlantic Ocean and is the DR Congo’s sole port.
According to Aljazeera and other news agencies obtained information, one witness told the AFP news agency that they had seen “53 charred bodies”.
A doctor at nearby hospital treating the victims said it was a race against time to treat survivors.
“We are trying to help them, we are trying to rehydrate them but sadly there are those who are dying,” Dr Tresor told the agency.
“Two mobile clinics are evacuating the injured,” he said.
Matabuana said local authorities had “taken measures to take charge of all the victims”
But photographs on social media showed the injured being transported on motorbikes and private cars. A witness said he had not seen any ambulance at the scene.
“No ambulance and no hospital worthy of its name in Kisantu. Preventing this kind of disaster, let’s just not speak about it…” said the pro-democracy movement Lucha (Struggle for Change) in a tweet.
The UN mission in DR Congo, known by its French acronym MONUSCO, said it had sent nine ambulances to the spot to evacuate the injured.
Sadly people have been warned before to always stay far away from this from this accidents but according to witnesses and officials, villagers had rushed to collect the leaking fuel when it caught fire on Saturday.
In 2010, more than 200 people were killed when a tanker truck overturned and burned in DR Congo’s South Kivu province. Many of the victims had been trying to collect the leaking fuel when it caught fire.
