A fuel truck from Mombasa in Kenya on Sunday morning was gutted by fire at Busesa village, Ibulanku sub-county along Iganga – Bugiri Road, severely injuring the driver.
It is reported that on Saturday evening, the driver of the truck Reg. No KCB 347H/ZF 2815 from Mombasa lost control on reaching Nabukolyo swamp in Busesa, which made the truck to overturn.
Another truck Reg. No UAN 637L was immediately dispatched from Bugiri to collect the fuel from the overturned truck, but in the process of drawing the fuel, a heavy fire started and destroyed litres of fuel whose quantity we could not ascertain by press time.
While speaking to SoftPower News, the Iganga District Police Commander, ASP Ndita Nasib confirmed the incident and that it was caused by fire sparks from the battery of the collecting truck as a result of racing the engine by the driver.
“In the morning, they brought in another trailer to change fuel from the other trailer which overturned but as the driver was trying to race, there were sparks from the battery thus starting the fire,” ASP Ndito said.
Mr. Ndita added: “However, Fire Brigade have managed to put off the fire and we are currently towing the vehicles from the road.”
He added that the driver was rushed to Iganga’s main hospital, Nakavule, after sustaining severe injuries.
Asked on the amount of fuel destroyed in the incident, ASP Ndita said he could not quantify it, but revealed that only a very small amount of fuel was saved.