Minister reports on fuel tanker disaster to assembly

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Minister reports on fuel tanker disaster to assembly

7:57 CAT | 24 Nov 2016

Folha de Maputo

The death toll from the explosion of a fuel tanker last Thursday in Moatize district, in the western Mozambican province of Tete, now stands at 84, according to the Minister of State Administration, Carmelita Namashalua.

Namashalua, who headed the central government delegation sent to Moatize in the wake of the tragedy, was briefing the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic on Wednesday.

She said that 43 people died instantly at the site of the explosion, in the locality of Capirizange. Two died while being taken to hospital, and the other 39 all died of their injuries in Tete provincial hospital.

173 people were injured in the explosion and fire, 108 of whom were treated in the provincial hospital. 60 patients are still hospitalized, and 34 of them are in a serious condition.

Namashalua said the authorities later discovered that some of the injured fled across the border into Malawi, while others opted for “traditional treatment”, which in some case led to serious infections. She did not say how many injured people fell into these categories.

From eye witnesses, the government delegation had pieced together the events leading up to the disaster. Namashalua said that on 16 November a Mercedes Benz truck, hauling petrol from the port of Beira to Malawi, and belonging to the company Walkers Investments, broke down on the main road near Capirizange.

Later in the day a second Mercedes Benz truck, but without a trailer, was sent by the company to assist the vehicle that had broken down. But the driver then towed the trailer some 500 metres into the bush. Clearly theft had been planned, for a Mozambican vehicle then appeared, armed with an electric pump, and fuel was drained from one of the tanks that had been transported from Beira.

During the pumping there was a short-circuit which caused a fire. Under these circumstances, the drivers of the vehicles fled.

The following day a crowd gathered and continued to loot the fuel, transferring it into small plastic containers. That afternoon, the devastating explosion occurred, killing 53 people on the spot. (This account is substantially the same as that given by one of the survivors to the daily paper “Noticias”, which published it on Tuesday).

Namashalua said that funerals have now been held and all the victims “have been decently buried in the local cemetery”. Five bodies have not been identified or claimed by their families. . On their graves plaques have been placed giving details which may allow their later identification.

To deal with the disaster health professionals were mobilized not only from Tete, but from the neighbouring provinces of Manca and Sofala and from Maputo. The great majority of the medical staff involved are Mozambicans, and Namashalua praised them for “their professionalism and total commitment”.

The police in Tete say they are still looking for the fugitive drivers of the vehicles involved in the fuel theft and subsequent tragedy. The drivers have not yet been identified (although the survivor who spoke to “Noticias” said that the driver of the Mozambican vehicle, a Toyota pick-up truck, is a well-known trafficker in stolen fuel who lives in Moatize town).

The government has set up a commission of inquiry into the circumstances of the Caphiridzange disaster, headed by the Minister of Justice, Isaque Chande, which has two weeks to deliver its report.

Source: AIM