The explosion took place on Saturday near the eastern town of Morogoro. The truck tipped over while the driver was trying to avoid a motorcycle. Poor people from the area tried to collect the oil from the tanker in their hope to make some money. When on person wanted to get the battery of the truck, the truck exploded. It killed at least 62 people and 70 are injured.
This is not the only case of explosions like that. At least 50 people were killed in the Congo in October when a crashed oil tanker caught fire as villagers tried to collect the leaking fuel. In May, at least 58 people died in Niger when a tanker exploded. Last month, a similar accident occurred in Nigeria and 50 people were killed.
President John Magufuli said: "There are vehicles that carry dangerous fuel oil, as in this case in Morogoro, there are others that carry toxic chemicals or explosives, let's stop this practice, please." At one of the funerals a pastor said: "This should serve as a lesson to us. When there is an accident like this, we should steer clear and let rescue workers do their job."
But the reality is not like the President or pastor show it, the reality is that such accidents are not happening because the people don't know about the risks. A lot of same accidents happening again and again as shown before. The reality is that the people take the risk, because of their poor life conditions, about poverty and exploitation. It's not about being more "attentive", its about the change of conditions, which exploit the people until they risk their life for some oil. So the true crime is the suppression and exploitation, thats the lesson of the accident.
