Lusaka City Council (LCC) and Zambia Air Force officers were hailed as heroes after they successfully rescued passengers from a burning tanker truck on Mungwi Road in Lusaka on Friday. The incident occurred at around 11:00 hours at Shift Rite premises along Mungwi Road in Lusaka.
Eyewitnesses described the scene as chaotic and terrifying, with flames shooting up to 50 feet into the air. “It was a horrifying experience, we heard a loud explosion, and when we looked out, we saw the tanker truck on fire,” said Mutale Mbewe, a resident of Lusaka.
According to reports from officers on the ground, the driver of the vehicle noticed fuel spilling out of the tanker and decided to park the vehicle. However, when a bus loaded with passengers passed the tanker, it immediately caught fire and burned extensively. The bus driver, John Zulu, recounted the incident, “I saw fuel on the road, and I knew I had to keep moving. But as soon as I passed the tanker, the bus caught fire.”
Fire Brigade officers from Zambia Air Force and Lusaka City Council responded swiftly and managed to quench the fire. “We received a distress call around 11:10 hours, and we immediately dispatched our officers to the scene,” said Lusaka City Council Chief Fire Officer, Brian Bwalya. “We arrived within minutes, and we managed to put out the fire before it caused more damage.”
Police visited the scene and initial investigations indicate that there were no casualties reported. However, four people were injured, and the value of the property destroyed is yet to be established. A Toyota Haice minibus which was parked near the scene of the incident also caught fire and got burnt extensively. All the passengers on board managed to escape unhurt.
We will see more of these now that GRZ has gone ahead with coventing TAZAMA to transport finished products …there is nothing heroic about putting out within capital city boundaries if this truck was on the outskirts now one would turned up. They are simply doing their job..
Poor health and safety under this mungulu government of upnd. We never had such dangerous events under pf.
Iwe Misisi slum Lord KZ above . We had cholera outbreak in 2018 which killed almost 150 people under your thuggish incompetent PF govt.
Cholera caused by unhygienic upnd members.