With a sudden whoosh, flames (pictured) flared up as
passersby both driving and walking along Khami Road ran for dear life in panic
and shock. Beside the storage tank, a fuel tanker belonging to a company
identified as Multi-movers was reduced to a shell. The tanker was reportedly
about to load fuel at the storage depot.
According to one of the owners of the truck only identified
as Admire who was visibly devastated, the tank was about to load fuel at the
depot before catching the fire.
“This fuel truck which has been reduced to a shell is ours.
It had come here to load fuel for further distribution,” said Admire.
The fuel storage depot is located along Khami Road next to
the District Development Fund now RIDA depot at Kelvin West.
The depot is operated by a company identified as Cleaver
Investment. When the news crew arrived at the scene shortly after 4pm, hordes
of onlookers had rushed to the scene as exaggerated versions of the incident
quickly spread through the city centre.
Without apparent concern for their safety, as potential
explosions could have followed due to the presence of other fuel tankers, the
crowd swelled as the Bulawayo Fire Brigade teams arrived within minutes to
battle the inferno.
The fire brigade had to wait for about 30 minutes before
extinguishing the fire as they said it was risky to get close to the fire
incident, particularly the burning storage tank.
When the brigade eventually began to extinguish the fire,
people began to brave up and took away property from offices as well as cars
within the premises. The fire brigade, however, managed to control and
extinguish the fire after 30 minutes. Sunday News
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