18 September 2015 - As the death toll from a fuel tanker explosion in Western Equatoria State continued to rise, local authorities were appealing to partners to help in treating the wounded.
At least 182 people were reported dead and over 100 more wounded, following an explosion after the tanker overturned three kilometer from Falag-sika locality in Maridi County on 16 September.
Most victims of the tanker fire are receiving treatment in Maridi Hospital, which authorities said lacked sufficient staff and other resources to adequately handle the situation, after it was looted during a conflict in the county in June.
According to Chandi Sevia, the doctor in charge of the hospital, most health personnel were still in hiding following more insecurity in the area last week and the facility was also facing insufficient medicine.
Responding to the appeal, UNMISS offered a helicopter from Yambio to Maridi to transport a delegation, including doctors from the mission, to assess the situation today.
The Red Cross Organization also arrived on the ground in Maridi to find ways to help the victims who were continuing to die of their wounds.
Frezer Oliver, one of the victims who sustained wounds all over his body, narrated events on the fateful day.
“We heard about a fuel tanker (which had overturned) and I went there and found many people collecting fuel into their (containers),” he said. “Suddenly a fire sparked and caught me because I was near the truck.”
Another woman at the hospital, who declined to mention her name, said she had lost her husband in the incident and two of her children got burned.
“We found people running to the place where fuel tanker had overturned and I decided to go there as well,” she said. “While I was there, I saw a soldier standing on top of the tanker and immediately the fire sparked abruptly and burned people.”
Following the explosion, the Caretaker State Governor, Major General Patrick Zamoi declared three days of mourning and ordered for flags to fly at half-mast. He noted that this was the first time the state was losing such a big number of people