Photo taken on Nov. 17, 2016 shows the injured after a tanker truck
exploded in Tete province, Mozambique. At least 73 people were killed and
dozens of people injured after a tanker truck exploded in northern Mozambique
on Thursday, the government said.
MAPUTO, Nov. 18
Mozambique has created a commission to investigate a tanker truck explosion
that killed 73 people and injured 110 others and provide necessary support.
The commission is headed by
Minister of State Administration and Civil Servants Carmelita Namashulua,
Minister of Transports and Communications Carlos Mesquita, deputy minister of
health Mouzinho Saide and director of the Institute for Disaster Management
Osvaldo Machatine.
The commission is expected to
land in the Tete province, where the explosion happened, on Friday.
According to police authorities,
the tragedy occurred on Thursday when the victims were trying to still oil from
the truck soon after the driver of Malawian company parked the truck.
"All happened because the
driver of the truck belonging to a Malawian company abandoned the road NR7 to
the interior of the community, in the process of stilling fuel, the truck
overheated and exploded," said Fabiao Nhancoloco, police provincial
commandant.
About 43 people died at the scene
and 40 others on their way to the provincial hospital. The injured had been
rushed to a nearby hospital.
The tragedy occurred in a day
when Tete province registered a maximum of 37 degrees Celsius.
The blast
occurred in the village of Caphiridzange on Thursday afternoon, and its
circumstances remain unclear. Various reports say the driver was selling fuel
to villagers, that he was ambushed or that the truck crashed on Wednesday and
customers were stealing fuel at the time of the explosion.
Many charred
bodies were scattered around the site, and Radio Mozambique reported some burn
victims attempted to run to a nearby river, the
BBC said Friday.
Among the world's poorest
countries and still dealing with the effects of a 16-year civil war that ended
in 1992, Mozambique, in East Africa, recently raised the price of fuel in
response to the decline in the value of its currency, the metical, against the
dollar.
President Filipe Nyusi pledged the government's support for the
victims' families, and an investigation into the circumstances of the blast is
underway.
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