TANZANIA TANKER EXPLOSION REPORT NOT YET RELEASED

Morogoro Regional Police Commander Wilbrod Mtafungwa at the accident scene 

Dodoma, TANZANIA

Report of a special probe committee formed by Tanzania’s Prime Minister to investigate the August 10th 2019 oil tanker explosion in Morogoro region will be released by his office at an appropriate time, the Parliament was told yesterday.

The probe aimed to enable the government establish how the relevant State institutions responded in the wake of a number of unanswered questions following the worst such incident in Tanzania and one of the worst in Africa in recent years.

Deputy Minister Home Affairs, Hamad Masauni, told the House in Dodoma that the Premier formed the committee aiming at enabling the government to know if relevant public authorities played their part after the accident which killed more than 100 people and wounded scores.

He said the aim of the special probe team was to come up with suggestions of measures to be taken to control similar incidences in future.

Masauni gave the explanations in response to a supplementary question by Special Seats Member of Parliament, Devotha Minja (Chadema) who asked why was the government contemplating to announce the outcomes of the probe committee.

Minja said that at the burial of some of the victims, the Prime Minister, Kassim Majaliwa, who represented President John Magufuli formed a special probe committee to investigate into a fuel tanker explosion, but the report that was supposed to be ready in a week's time has never been made public.

She also wanted to know when the government will release the report to the public claiming the fire and rescue force took long to arrive at the scene despite the fact that explosion occurred at the Msamvu area, some few kilometers from their offices.

“The Prime Minister’s Office has its own arrangement of releasing such reports. I am sure the report will be made public at an appropriate time”. Said the minister.

On August 10th 2019, a fuel tanker exploded in Morogoro town killing more than 100 and several other wounded. Many of those killed and injured had been siphoning petrol from the vehicle when it burst into flames.

The tanker registered T717 DDF with a trailer T645 CAN Scania overturned on August 10, 2019 at Msamvu, in Morogoro.

Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa speaks in Morogoro before the burial of people killed in the fuel tanker explosion. He ordered the probe committee to compile the report within a week-time.

Officials said the explosion was triggered when a man tried to retrieve the truck’s battery, creating sparks that ignited the fuel.

The government had formed a commission of inquiry to investigate how the relevant public institutions responded to the deadly fuel tanker blast.

The Prime Minister told thousands of mourners that the commission was required to submit its findings not later than Friday, the same week.

“We are looking forward to a comprehensive report that leaves no questions unanswered in order to help the government decide its next course of action,” Majaliwa said.

He added “The accident occurred at around 8am at the heart of the municipality. It happened at a time public servants were supposed to be on duty. We therefore want to know whether there was any dereliction of duty and who was responsible.”

A similar tragedy occurred in Mbeya in 2000 when a number of villagers were burned in explosion of oil tanker. At least 33 were killed during the incident that happened at Isongole village after a fuel tanker explored.