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At least 73 people have been killed and more than 100 wounded after a lorry carrying fuel blew up in western Mozambique, according to the government.
In a statement on Thursday, officials said that the vehicle had overturned while transporting fuel to Malawi from the port city of Beira.
“The incident occurred when citizens tried to take petrol from a truck” in a small village in Tete province, the statement said. “Because of the heat, the truck burst into flames.”
The initial death toll stood at 43, but official later raised it to 73. At least 110 others suffered burns, the government said. A local journalist said the lorry had crashed on Wednesday and exploded on Thursday afternoon, as scores of people tried to siphon off fuel.
The victims included children. The injured victims were taken to Tete provincial hospital.
Mozambique is one of the world’s poorest nations, according to the International Monetary Fund, and since its civil war ended in 1992 its population has suffered the consequences of an economic crisis.
The government recently increased the price of fuel, after the value of the local currency sunk against the US dollar.
Meanwhile, the Mozambican president has pledged support for the families of 73 people.
President Filipe Nyusi said on Friday that “tragedy has knocked on our door once again” in Tete province, where the accident happened on Thursday. Nyusi was recalling a 2015 incident in Tete in which about 70 people died after drinking contaminated beer.
Nyusi said aid efforts must be “flexible” following the tanker fire in the town of Caphiridzange, according to the Portuguese news agency Lusa.
More than 100 people were injured.
The explosion happened after a truck driver stopped to sell fuel to residents who gathered around the vehicle, according to Radio Mozambique. A government task force headed to the scene and an investigation was underway. — AFP
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