A fuel tanker lorry caught fire and exploded in central Libya on Monday, killing at least nine people and injuring 76, authorities said.
The incident occurred in the town of Bent Bayya, according to the Health Ministry in Tripoli.
The ministry did not say how many were killed by the explosion, but Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush said earlier on Twitter that at least five people had been killed.
Pictures posted on the internet by local residents showed a charred lorry and several other hulks on both sides of the road in the Ezwaiya area of Bent Bayya.
Three medical sources told AFP that five burnt bodies were found, either inside or near vehicles, and said that the death toll was expected to rise because there were serious injuries to other victims.
It was not clear if the driver of the vehicle was among the victims.
“The truck was involved in a traffic accident and overturned,” a security source told AFP.
The state-run Libyan News agency said the tanker overturned before catching fire and exploding.
The agency said residents in the area rushed to collect leaked gasoline despite warnings of possible fire and explosion, causing the high casualty toll. Such incidents occasionally happen in impoverished areas where safety measures are regularly neglected.
The agency put the death toll at seven, citing an unnamed security official, AP reported.
The state-run medical centre in the nearby city of Sebha received at least 50 injured, hospital spokeswoman Halima Al Mahri said.
From there, at least 16 critically injured people were moved to hospitals in the capital, Tripoli, and the eastern city of Benghazi.
The centre posted photos, including graphic images, of people at an emergency ward receiving treatment for burns.
It was not clear what caused the tanker to overturn and explode.
Libya has suffered a fuel shortage since 2014, when the country was divided by a civil war in which rival factions battled for power after an uprising that toppled longtime leader Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.
In many cities, citizens have to wait in long queues, sometimes for hours, to refuel their vehicles.
Libya has Africa's largest proven oil reserves, but chronic corruption and theft for smuggling to neighbouring countries means that the pumps often run dry.
Southern Libya is particularly affected by poor services and a lack of investment, more than a decade since the overthrow of dictator Qaddafi in a Nato-backed 2011 uprising.
Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, prime minister of the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity, said in a tweet that authorities were “closely following the disaster in Bent Bayya municipality”.
Mr Dbeibah said that instructions were given to transfer the injured to bigger hospitals.
Fathi Bashagha, the other of Libya’s two rival prime ministers, said he ordered an investigation into the incident.
If you go
The flights
The closest international airport for those travelling from the UAE is Denver, Colorado. British Airways (www.ba.com) flies from the UAE via London from Dh3,700 return, including taxes. From there, transfers can be arranged to the ranch or it’s a seven-hour drive. Alternatively, take an internal flight to the counties of Cody, Casper, or Billings
The stay
Red Reflet offers a series of packages, with prices varying depending on season. All meals and activities are included, with prices starting from US$2,218 (Dh7,150) per person for a minimum stay of three nights, including taxes. For more information, visit red-reflet-ranch.net.
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The bio
Favourite book: Peter Rabbit. I used to read it to my three children and still read it myself. If I am feeling down it brings back good memories.
Best thing about your job: Getting to help people. My mum always told me never to pass up an opportunity to do a good deed.
Best part of life in the UAE: The weather. The constant sunshine is amazing and there is always something to do, you have so many options when it comes to how to spend your day.
Favourite holiday destination: Malaysia. I went there for my honeymoon and ended up volunteering to teach local children for a few hours each day. It is such a special place and I plan to retire there one day.
So what is Spicy Chickenjoy?
Just as McDonald’s has the Big Mac, Jollibee has Spicy Chickenjoy – a piece of fried chicken that’s crispy and spicy on the outside and comes with a side of spaghetti, all covered in tomato sauce and topped with sausage slices and ground beef. It sounds like a recipe that a child would come up with, but perhaps that’s the point – a flavourbomb combination of cheap comfort foods. Chickenjoy is Jollibee’s best-selling product in every country in which it has a presence.
Three ways to limit your social media use
Clinical psychologist, Dr Saliha Afridi at The Lighthouse Arabia suggests three easy things you can do every day to cut back on the time you spend online.
1. Put the social media app in a folder on the second or third screen of your phone so it has to remain a conscious decision to open, rather than something your fingers gravitate towards without consideration.
2. Schedule a time to use social media instead of consistently throughout the day. I recommend setting aside certain times of the day or week when you upload pictures or share information.
3. Take a mental snapshot rather than a photo on your phone. Instead of sharing it with your social world, try to absorb the moment, connect with your feeling, experience the moment with all five of your senses. You will have a memory of that moment more vividly and for far longer than if you take a picture of it.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Who is Allegra Stratton?
- Previously worked at The Guardian, BBC’s Newsnight programme and ITV News
- Took up a public relations role for Chancellor Rishi Sunak in April 2020
- In October 2020 she was hired to lead No 10’s planned daily televised press briefings
- The idea was later scrapped and she was appointed spokeswoman for Cop26
- Ms Stratton, 41, is married to James Forsyth, the political editor of The Spectator
- She has strong connections to the Conservative establishment
- Mr Sunak served as best man at her 2011 wedding to Mr Forsyth
