Nigeria - another deadly tanker crash

More than 100 people are believed to have been killed after a petrol tanker crashed near the village of Okogbe in southern Nigeria.    Many of the victims are thought to have rushed to the scene to try to collect fuel that had spilled onto the road.

The tanker is reported to have collided with three other vehicles, but it did not burst into flames immediately.    By the time it exploded, it was surrounded by people.  The authorities say that 95 bodies have been recovered so far, but it is believed that many more have died.

Nigeria has been the scene of a number of disastrous tanker crashes.   Back in 2000, a tanker that had been poorly maintained careered into a traffic jam on the motorway from Ife to Ibadan. It exploded in a huge fireball, destroying more than 100 vehicles and killing up to 200 people.   

Then in 2009, at least 70 people were killed when a tanker overturned and exploded as the driver tried to negotiate deep potholes on the Enugu-Onitsha highway.  Perhaps the deadliest tanker fire of all came at Sange in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2010 when a tanker overturned as it overtook a bus, and 230 people were killed.  

*A new reivew of my book Historia Mundial de los Desastres -
http://libros-san-francisco.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/libro-historia-mundial-de-los-desastres.html

Floods in Africa

Unusually heavy rains in Nigeria have resulted in at least 20 deaths around the city of Ibadan, 90 miles north of Lagos.   A dam overflowed, and the fact that drains were clogged with rubbish made the inundation even worse.    

Camps have been set up to accommodate the thousands of people who have been driven from their homes.  Buildings have been flooded, food destroyed, and farmland swamped.

Last year, more than 100,000 people were made homeless by floods in the country, while across western and central Africa as a whole, more than 300 people were killed.    The Niger river reached its highest level in 80 years, and there were severe food shortages in the aftermath of the flood, which affected half a dozen countries.

The African floods of 2007 were even more widespread, affecting 14 countries, disrupting the lives of 2.5 million people, and killing 250.  (See also my blog of March 19, 2009)

The worst ever tanker accident?

Apologies for my silence. I’ve been away for a few weeks, and during my absence, that unhappy country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, fell victim to one of the deadliest road accidents the world has ever seen - on Friday, 2 July.

An oil tanker overturned as it was overtaking a bus on a dirt road in the village of Sange, close to the border with Burundi. The authorities say that as local people rushed to try to gather the leaking fuel, a lighted cigarette caused it to explode.

At least 230 people were killed, including some watching a World Cup match in a nearby cinema. Roads in the area are notoriously bad after years of war and chaos, while Sange’s population has been swelled by people fleeing the fearsome Lord’s Resistance Army militia.

This may have been the worst ever accident involving a tanker. In 1978, 217 people perished when one carrying liquid propylene overturned near a campsite at Los Alfaques near Taragona in Spain, while in 2000, up to 200 died after a petrol tanker ploughed into stationery vehicles caught in a traffic jam near Ibadan in Nigeria.

Gunpowder, treason and plot + Nigeria road carnage

Today in the UK, we celebrate the failure of what nowadays would no doubt be called a terrorist attack – the attempt of Guy Fawkes and his fellow Roman Catholic conspirators to blow up the House of Commons in 1605. It will be interesting to see whether the recent disastrous decline in the reputation of MPs will lead to guys being burned or fireworks set off with any less enthusiasm.

It is not just that so many of our representatives seem to have been quite happy to rip off the people who elected them, it is also that so few seem to have been interested in doing their job. They have stood by as the Labour government has stripped us of our civil liberties, and they evidently do not bother to read most of the poorly drafted, ill thought out laws they pass under the instruction of the party whips.

For Nigeria, though, today is the anniversary of a disaster that DID happen. On November 5, 2000, one of the country’s perennial jams had brought traffic to a standstill on the Ife to Ibadan motorway. Then along came a rather decrepit petrol tanker which could not stop, and ploughed into the stationary vehicles.

Within seconds it blew up, and a huge fireball devastated the area. No one knows exactly how many people were killed, but it could be up to 200. Police were later accused of causing the original jam by setting up a roadblock so they could extort money from motorists, though major traffic accidents are nothing unusual in Nigeria. (see my blog of Oct 12)

Nigerian road disasters

A reminder over the weekend of how deadly the roads can be in Nigeria. At least 70people were killed when a fuel tanker overturned and exploded in the southern state of Anambra. The vehicle was reported to be trying to negotiate deep potholes on the Enugu-Onitsha highway when it toppled over, spilling its load across the road.

The fuel caught fire and set half a dozen packed minibuses blazing. A car is said to have crashed into the debris. A transport official warned that if major improvements were not made to the country’s road network, Nigeria could expect further tragedies.

Nearly nine years ago, in November 2000, a poorly maintained tanker careered into a traffic jam on the motorway from Ife to Ibadan. It exploded, sending a huge fireball up into the sky. More than 100 vehicles were destroyed, and up to 200 people were killed. It was the fourth deadly road accident in the country in just three months.

For the full story see A Disastrous History of the World.

Kenyan tanker crash

At least 111 people have been killed in Kenya after a tanker overturned in the town of Molo. A fire seems to have broken out when hundreds of people rushed to the scene to try to gather the petrol that had spilt. It is not clear what caused the blaze. Some witnesses say that someone in the crowd lit a cigarette, but there are also reports that it was started deliberately to obstruct police who were trying to stop local people scooping up the fuel in their jerry cans. At the scene, the Kenyan interior minister said four of the dead were police.

There was a similar disaster in Nigeria in 2007, when a tanker overturned near the village of Katugal. Again people tried to scoop up petrol and 98 were killed when it caught fire.

One of the worst road crashes in history also happened in Nigeria in 2000. A tanker with defective brakes ploughed into stationary traffic on the motorway from Ife to Ibadan. It overturned, and petrol began leaking, then ignited. A huge fireball devastated a wide area, and according to some estimates, up to 200 people died.