Kyanamira, Kabaare inferno, Saturday October 26, 2024

 Last week’s fiery accidents in Uganda are another wake-up call to action. The first accident occurred at Kigoogwa, a town just north of Kampala, on Tuesday October 22. The driver lost control of his fuel tanker truck, which rolled on to its left side, right next to a Petro City gas station. The driver bolted, reportedly after warning residents to stay away from the truck. Enough time elapsed to allow people to evacuate to safety. Instead, many people ignored the fleeing driver’s warning and proceeded to steal leaking fuel from the benign looking truck. An amateur videographer captured the moment of the fiery explosion. (See video link below.) As I write, 24 people have been reported dead. 

The second accident occurred at Kyanamira, a township just south-easter of Kabaare (Kabale Town) on Saturday October 26. Kyanamira township is literally built around a very sharp corner, at the bottom of a hill, the last descent before one enters the stunningly beautiful town of Kabaare. That sharp corner has witnessed major accidents nearly every year. (See video link below)

To appreciate the danger that lurks at Kyanamira, one must go back to the hills of Kabaraga, the last steep slopes that the motorist enjoys before the final descent towards Kabaare. Seconds after reaching the peak of the hills, one often beholds the majestic Mount Muhabura in the distance, the great extinct volcano, silently towering above the region from her throne at the Uganda Rwanda border. All seems perfect and safe as one negotiates some gentle corners before reaching a long stretch of road, perhaps a kilometre long, at the foot of Kirengyere Hill. Here, the reckless or unfamiliar driver is tempted to accelerate, mistaking the straight road for a safe welcome to the valley in which the commercial part of Kabaare is located. There are no road signs to indicate a sharp corner ahead, and no high road humps to discourage excess speed.  

Geoffrey Onyango, the 34-year-old Kenyan driver of the fuel tanker truck, failed to negotiate that corner. His vehicle rolled onto its left side, and exploded moments later, directly across the road from my dear friend’s house. An inferno followed, out of which the driver emerged, his body on fire, from which he was saved by residents of Kyanamira. His 20-year-old turnboy, another Kenyan called Rogers Onyango, died in the truck, incinerated to ashes. 

By God’s grace, my friend was not home. Furthermore, his beautiful house, a few metres from the burning truck, was spared. Only one of his water tanks and his exterior detached garage were burned. I attributed his fortune to God’s miraculous protection, an opportunity granted to him to get on bended knee and bow his head in supplication and thanksgiving.  

The other residents of Kyanamira were spared the death and injury that our people in Kigoogwa suffered days earlier. The almost instantaneous explosion prevented those with reckless inclinations from stealing fuel from the fuel truck. However, I was bothered by the sight of many people that remained dangerously close to the accident. Had I been there, I would have run faster than Joshua Cheptegei, heading north along the valley, not stopping till I reached Makanga Hill. Fire has a way of spreading fast, triggering a last-minute stampede that can be as deadly as the inferno itself. In such situations, the experts recommend an evacuation radius of 2.2 km from the site of the fiery accident.   

The common scenario of an accidental roll over of a fuel truck, followed by fiery explosion after many minutes, is very easy to explain. It is a phenomenon called BLEVE, which is short for “Boiling-liquid, expanding-vapour explosion. The truck crashes, compromising the integrity of the tank, followed by leakage of large quantities of fuel, which becomes gasified, mixes with the air, triggering a spontaneous ignition, perhaps due to static electricity, heating of the liquid above its boiling point at atmospheric pressure, followed by a fiery explosion, and death and injury of living people nearby. (Untethered animals wisely flee.)

This is very basic physics and chemistry, to which many people appear not be privy. It does not require another source of fire to ignite the fuel. A combination of ignorance, poverty and greed conspires to attract people to these trucks, with predictable consequences. Interestingly, Newsweek Magazine reported a few days ago that the practice of stealing fuel from these fuel trucks was a common problem in Africa. In fact, it is a phenomenon that has caused documented multiple deaths in similar situations in Colombia, Haiti, Mexico, and Pakistan. The common factor appears to be poverty and greed. 

The world has had too many of these fuel tanker truck disasters since the first reported one that occurred in Toledo, Ohio, USA in 1961. My incomplete review of this problem has found 37 reports on the internet. Some of those that killed over 100 people each occurred in Alcanar, Spain in 1978 (215 dead), Ibadan, Nigeria in 2000 (up to 200 dead), Molo, Kenya in 2009 (113 dead), South Kivu, Congo Free State in 2010 (230 dead), Akobie, Nigeria in 2012 (121 dead), Juba, South Sudan in 2015 (193 dead), Bahawalpur, Pakistan in 2017 (219 dead), Morogoro, Tanzania in 2019 (over 100 dead), Freetown, Sierra Leone in 2021 (151 dead), and Jigawa, Nigeria in 2024 (170 dead).  Many other accidents claimed dozens of lives each.

It is easy to blame the truck drivers alone, without considering the complete system failure that leads to these preventable accidents and secondary deaths of people nearby. Things to consider include (1) the motor vehicle design, including the thickness of the fuel tank walls; (2) road and environment design and maintenance; (3) visible road warning signs and speed reduction humps that cannot be circumvented by motorists; (4) driver and crew training, and mandatory presence of two licenced drivers on these long-distance trips; (5) vehicle maintenance and annual road worthiness certification; (6) public education about the dangers of all trucks and other motor vehicles involved in accidents; (7) corruption-free enforcement of the rules by traffic police; (8) post-accident scene management by authorized personnel, including readily available fire ambulances; and (9) emergency medical services, triage and hospital management of the victims.

Uganda, being one of only 54 countries that are parties to the United Nations Agreement Concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR), has signalled its commitment to reduce and, hopefully, eliminate this preventable cause of death. Uganda and Nigeria are the only African countries that are party to ADR. Curiously, Burundi, Congo Free Sta, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Tanzania are not. Hopefully those countries have their own local regulatory frameworks. However, it would be advisable to have a harmonised approach by the Member States of the East African Community. 

Last week’s accidents were not a new phenomenon to Uganda, of course. We have already had too many like them. However, in every tragedy, hope. Amidst the tears, grateful smiles. Out of darkness, light. In all mistakes, lessons to learn. A dead person is one too many, but the two tragedies could have been worse. That is why I am thankful to God, and hopeful that the Ugandan government will take the right steps now, to prevent similar disasters.

© Muniini K. Mulera