At least six people were killed and fifty injured in the accidental explosion of a tanker truck in southern Libya on Monday, we learned from concordant official sources.
The tragedy occurred in Bent Bayyah, a small town in southwestern Libya, when dozens of residents rushed towards a tanker truck en route to a gas station to fill cans with gasoline, causing a stampede, while the truck had caught fire.
The incident killed at least six people, an official told AFP at the central hospital in Sebha, a hundred kilometers further north, where the injured are hospitalized.
“More than fifty wounded were admitted to Sebha hospital,” said the hospital management, which did not communicate on the number of deaths.
Many injured are in serious condition, a security official in Sebha, a desert town located 750 km south of Tripoli, told AFP.
The precise causes of the fire and explosion are unclear, but several parked cars caught fire, according to images released by Internet users. This region of southern Libya is facing severe fuel shortages.
“We are closely following the tragedy that occurred in Bent Bayyah […]we have instructed a crisis unit to transfer the wounded to major hospitals as a matter of urgency, ”assured the head of the government of Tripoli, Abdelhamid Dbeibah, on Twitter.
Libya has been plunged into chaos since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011, plagued by divisions and power struggles.
Insecurity and the economic crisis make it difficult for Libyans to access the most basic services, especially for the inhabitants of the south who feel marginalized.
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