Scramble for crash-site loot often ends in tragedy in Africa

By Eva Krafczyk Jul 5, 2010, 13:46 GMT

Nairobi/Bukavu - It was another, preventable tragedy. In the East Congolese village of Sange, dozens of women and children ran to collect oil from a fuel truck which had overturned.

UN soldiers vainly warned them to keep their distance from the site of the accident.

But the eagerness to collect free oil, which could be used for cooking, heating and the lighting of their huts, overrode their calls.

When the leaking fuel caught fire the flames caught everybody who was standing near the lorry.

At least 220 people died, including more than 60 children. The flames engulfed the wooden huts which stood around the accident site, trapping those inside.

Many of them had been following the World Cup match between Ghana and Uruguay on Friday evening when the fuel ignited, under still unexplained circumstances.

It is still unclear how many of those who were caught up in the blaze may die from their injuries.

In the war-torn province of South Kivu the journey to the provincial capital Bukavu, 70 kilometres away, lasts several hours because of the bad roads.

Some of those injured were treated by UN peacekeepers.

Only a day later 13 people were killed in similar circumstance in Nigeria. In January 2009, more than 130 people died in Kenya when the oil they had run to collect from an overturned lorry caught fire.

The circumstances of the accidents are all the same, only the number of dead and injured changes.

After every accident police and authorities warn in vain of the dangers posed by the leaking petrol.

Poverty is rife in the villages built along the edges of the country roads where the accidents take place.

If a lorry crashes near one of them, it is not long before a crowd of people have gathered to collect what they can, be it petrol, flour or other goods.

And such accidents are all too common on Africa's potholed roads.

Many drivers are tired and drive too fast in order to catch up on time spent waiting at borders or police checkpoints.

Some villagers even dig a few extra holes in accident-prone spots, says Samuel Kagiri, a long-distance lorry driver.

'Many of them are just waiting for accidents,' he says. 'The people in these villages are so poor, they need everything they can get. They see accidents as a lucky chance, not as a danger.'