22die in tanker accident
JEDDAH: At least 22 people were killed and 111 injured after a fuel truck crashed into a concrete flyover and exploded in Riyadh early Thursday, officials said.
Lt. Gen. Saad Abdullah Al-Twaijri, director general of civil defense, said the number of casualties could increase as rescuers were still searching the rubble of a building demolished by the explosion.
The accident happened along Quraish road, one of the city's main arteries on the eastern part of the capital city.
TV footage showed the explosion damaged buildings nearby and set several vehicles ablaze. One building, several stories high, was almost leveled by the blast, with only one corner left standing.
“I was inside the building when the blast came. Then boom, the building collapsed. Furniture, chairs and cabinets blasted into the room I was in,” said survivor Kushnoo Akhtara, a 55-year-old Pakistani worker, who was covered in dirt and bleeding from multiple cuts over his body.
“My brother is still inside under the rubble. There are lots of people in there.”
Over a hundred emergency personnel were combing the wreckage on the flyover and searching for victims in the rubble of the building, which housed operations of Zahid Tractor, a distributor of heavy machinery.
General Al-Twaijri said preliminary investigation pointed to recklessless on the part of the truck driver. The truck hit a post of the flyover and exploded.
He complained that the thousands of onlookers along roads near the accident site were hampering search and rescue operations. The crowd was eventually pushed away by police.
Arab News
It's also possible that it was an unfortunate accident and the driver was experienced and happy with his salary..
Bad safety and working practices. Its possible that the driver driving this vehicle had not been trained properly or may even have been made to overwork. Also perhaps this high value, highly risky cargo and a serious fire hazard was given to just any driver who perhaps did not know the risk of the cargo he was carrying. Perhaps he was just one of those drivers who was poorly paid to carry such a highly dangerous and inflamaable cargo. Its a wake up call for all to see that drivers and other employees are trained properly for the jobs they are entrusted to do and paid decent wages
Un-paid wages for the poor tanker driver, Flashing !!!
This drivers who drive this high risk vehicles should be given proper and regular training on safe driving and how to go about their work as any rash driving on their part can cause a major disaster like this one. This practices apply to all drivers and places
God help them and hopefully they get as much survivors back!
Moment of silence.