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Africa wins again (TM)

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Another great example when not to fire your weapon.

"When police arrived at the scene, the paper reported, police officers immediately fired shots into the air, causing the fuel to catch fire."

http://news.bnonews.com/n8ge

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Gonna call BS on the cause if the explosion.



The tanker was reported to be carrying diesel. You can put a match out in diesel. It is relatively difficult to ignite if not properly atomized. It does not flare up like gasoline.

Either the contents of the tanker were reported wrong, or the ignition source was something else.



Or the planets were aigned just right....

destroying at least nine other vehicles, including a loaded school bus.

The Saturday Tribune reported that more than 80 people died and an unknown number of people were seriously injured in the disaster which happened between noon and 2 p.m. local time on Friday. It happened at the Odumodu Junction on the Onitsha-Enugu highway in Anambra, a state in Nigeria.

According to eyewitnesses, the tanker was stuck in a deep hole before it overturned and spilled the diesel it was carrying on to the road. When police arrived at the scene, the paper reported, police officers immediately fired shots into the air, causing the fuel to catch fire. "The tanker burst into flame that engulfed other vehicles that were close-by and equally trapped some of the people that were gathered around the scene [but] were not fast enough to escape," the source said.

Five to seven of the vehicles which were destroyed in the blast were passenger buses, with at least one of them being a school bus loaded with children from a school in Umunya. "It was a horrific experience because we were standing nearby and could do nothing while these little children were burnt to ashes due to the level of heat that was coming from the fire," a witness was quoted as saying. The News Agency of Nigeria cited a witness as saying that a convoy of vehicles carrying politicians was passing-by the tanker when it happened. At least one of the destroyed vehicles was said to be a BMW car.

Anambra State Governor Obi immediately mobilized the State Emergency Maintenance Agency (SEMA) to respond to the disaster, resulting in the rescue of five people who are being treated at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Hospital Nnewi. At least 6 other people were also being treated at various hospitals.

More than 12 hours after the initial blast, firefighters were still battling the inferno while rescue crews were making efforts to recover the corpses. Media reports said a fuel tanker earlier exploded at the same place, but did not cause as many casualties as on Friday.

The two people who were on board the tanker reportedly fled the scene.

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Gonna call BS on the cause if the explosion.

The tanker was reported to be carrying diesel. You can put a match out in diesel. It is relatively difficult to ignite if not properly atomized. It does not flare up like gasoline.
Either the contents of the tanker were reported wrong, or the ignition source was something else.

Or the planets were aigned just right....

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First off, why did they fire "shots into the air"? I see no mention of anything that required that action. Second, how did firing "shots into the air" ignite diesel, I know it can ignite and burn, but it seems it would take more the a pistol muzzle flash.

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Ok then, we have a truck stuck in a hole (or mud) depending on which story you read.  

The truck gets tired of sitting there and turns itself over or lays down for a nap or something, causing diesel fuel to spill out on the ground..

Cops show up and start shooting in the air.  Trying to scare off the fire gods? Warning the fuel to get back in the truck?  

Causing the fuel / air mixture to explode????  What kind of gun / ammo would do that????  What kind of Fuel / air ratio would you need to do that?  BTW this was the second fuel tanker to explode in that same spot.

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Gonna call BS on the cause if the explosion.

The tanker was reported to be carrying diesel. You can put a match out in diesel. It is relatively difficult to ignite if not properly atomized. It does not flare up like gasoline.
Either the contents of the tanker were reported wrong, or the ignition source was something else.

Or the planets were aigned just right....

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This is Africa, so there were probably scores of skinnies with buckets trying to steal the fuel. Maybe the police were trying to clear them out, and in the confusion the fuel caught fire.