[quote]The Associated Press, The New York Times
SANGE, Congo – A tanker truck hauling fuel in rural eastern Congo overturned, began gushing oil and then exploded in a massive fireball that killed about 220 bystanders, officials said Saturday.
The explosion occurred late Friday as people from the nearby village of Sange were trying to take fuel from the ruptured truck, a U.N. spokesman said.
Some of those killed had been watching the World Cup in roadside shacks. Officials said at least 10 homes were burned.
U.N.-sponsored Radio Okapi in Congo said more than a quarter of the victims were children.
"People are shocked, but everything is calm," said the governor of South Kivu province, Marcellin Cissambo. "It's a huge death toll for such a banal accident."
U.N. peacekeepers rushed to evacuate more than 200 wounded from the scene by helicopter and ambulance, while Red Cross teams carried the charred bodies from the scene in body bags and buried them in mass graves a few miles away.
The truck overturned as it was trying to pass a minibus near Sange, about 20 miles north of Uvira, a town on the northern tip of Lake Tanganyika, near the Burundi border, said Mana Lungwe, manager of the Congolese oil company that owns the truck. The vehicle began gushing oil and then burst into flames an hour later.
As oil began leaking from the damaged tanker, Pakistani peacekeepers from a nearby U.N. base "came and told people to get away from the area, but people refused to leave," said Bedide Mwasha, a 45-year-old resident.
"Men, women and children, even government soldiers were stealing petrol," Mwasha said, adding that when night fell, one woman lit a kerosene lamp, which may have ignited the blaze.
"It was so terrible. We lost so many family and friends," said Umoja Ruzibira, 25, who heard a huge explosion and saw a fireball engulf thatch huts and a crowded market. "There were so many men, women and children around when it happened."
Desperately poor people in Congo and elsewhere in Africa often descend quickly around damaged or disabled oil trucks or pipelines leaking fuel, carting it away with plastic jugs.
Some of the worst tragedies have occurred in Nigeria, where thousands have died as crowds siphoned fuel from ruptured or pierced oil pipelines that subsequently exploded.
In a separate accident Friday, a gasoline tanker flipped over and exploded outside the gates of a local hospital in northern Nigeria, killing 14 people in Gombe state.[/quote]
[quote]Desperately poor people in Congo and elsewhere in Africa often descend quickly around damaged or disabled oil trucks or pipelines leaking fuel, carting it away with plastic jugs.[/quote]
:fireman:
Holy fuck.
holy shit thats a lot of people
Oil sure likes to fuck everything up doesn't it
That sucks.
That blows.
Bonga Bonga Bonga I don't wanna leave the Cong-
[IMG]http://www.sannaranch.com/Trailer-Explosion.JPG[/IMG]
Damn, I really feel for these people, must have been a blast for their families.
And the world looks on.
Jesus Christ, there must have been a solid crowd around the thing.
[editline]01:05AM[/editline]
[QUOTE=AtomicWaffle;23114873]And the world looks on.[/QUOTE]
Life is exceptionally cheap in Congo. If somebody gets hit by a car or something like that and dies, a few onlookers will probably chuckle.
[QUOTE=hypno-toad;23114927]Jesus Christ, there must have been a solid crowd around the thing.
[editline]01:05AM[/editline]
Life is exceptionally cheap in Congo. If somebody gets hit by a car or something like that and dies, a few onlookers will probably chuckle.[/QUOTE]
i doubt that.
I bet it was Norway.
Why does the OP have 13 funnys?!
They must of been having a blast when they learned how much the oi-
My joke wasn't funny.
Also above poster: Whay am I so retarded.
Their fault they're dead, trying to steal oil and all.
IT WAS 4chan :ninja:.. i know it
and nothing of value was lost.
[highlight](User was banned for this post ("Troll" - Lithifold))[/highlight]
220 people? Wow.
Here, give me a sec to light this kerosene lamp next to THE OIL TANKER LEAKING OIL ALL OVER THE PLACE
[QUOTE=demoguy08;23115958]and nothing of value was lost.[/QUOTE]
What, because they were thieving Africans? I suppose it'd be different if this'd happened in America or Europe, though. Right?
Life in that part of the world isn't exactly good. Sure, some of the people who got killed in that blast may have been genuinely bad people who did horrendous things in their life (like killing families) to get themselves a good quality of life; however, for most of them, stealing from that overturned oil tanker was probably the most 'indecent' and unlawful thing they'd ever done in their life. All they were trying to do was make themselves some money so that they could have a few decent meals or buy them and their family something nice.
At the very least you can't possibly consider the CHILDREN as worthless. As 'nothing of value'. Life is the MOST valuable thing in the universe, and generally most decent people hold a child's life above all else.
[QUOTE=demoguy08;23115958]and nothing of value was lost.[/QUOTE]
Fuck you
Clearly this was Bush's fault, for not properly regulating the roads and driving standards...
I'm waiting for the obligatory demoman post.
[QUOTE=gbtygfvyg;23117622]I'm waiting for the obligatory demoman post.[/QUOTE]
I'm Scottish, so... I could say 'kaboom' if you'd like.
[QUOTE=demoguy08;23115958]and nothing of value was lost.[/QUOTE]
220 lives (and a gasoline tanker) has quite a lot of value
[QUOTE=MenteR;23114852]Damn, I really feel for these people, must have been a blast for their families.[/QUOTE]
[IMG]http://threadbombing.com/data/media/2/2gtwz83.gif[/IMG]
[QUOTE=gbtygfvyg;23117622]I'm waiting for the obligatory demoman post.[/QUOTE]
"That's what ye get fer touchin' that!"
[QUOTE=sltungle;23117522]What, because they were thieving Africans? I suppose it'd be different if this'd happened in America or Europe, though. Right?
Life in that part of the world isn't exactly good. Sure, some of the people who got killed in that blast may have been genuinely bad people who did horrendous things in their life (like killing families) to get themselves a good quality of life; however, for most of them, stealing from that overturned oil tanker was probably the most 'indecent' and unlawful thing they'd ever done in their life. All they were trying to do was make themselves some money so that they could have a few decent meals or buy them and their family something nice.
At the very least you can't possibly consider the CHILDREN as worthless. As 'nothing of value'. Life is the MOST valuable thing in the universe, and generally most decent people hold a child's life above all else.[/QUOTE]
Do you even know what goes on in that part of the world?
[editline]05:42AM[/editline]
[QUOTE=Kai-ryuu;23118056]a gasoline tanker) has quite a lot of value[/QUOTE]
I agree, especially with this oil spill and all.
Damn I guess the people who were in the crowd and didn't get the chance to siphon any gas must have felt a little burnt.
shit, and spork's pun is also shit
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