A fuel fire at a tea shop in South Sudan’s Unity State killed one person and injured 10 others over the weekend, local officials said Tuesday.
The incident occurred Saturday morning in Thoarnhom Payam, located in Panyijiar County, when fuel being handled by a boat driver for an aid organization ignited, according to Panyijiar County Commissioner Gabriel Majok Bol.
Bol told Radio Tamazuj that the driver was transferring fuel near a shop where a woman was making tea over an open fire. The fuel caught fire, causing the shop to burn.
Eleven people were trapped inside the shop and suffered burns, while four others managed to escape, the commissioner said.
The 11 burn victims were initially taken to a hospital in Ganyliel before being transferred to a facility in Leer County. The boat driver died en route at Adok port, Bol confirmed.
Ten survivors reached the hospital. Four of them, who sustained more severe injuries, were later transferred to a hospital in Bentiu for further treatment. The remaining six are being cared for at the Leer hospital.
Bol said the nine male survivors and one female survivor, the tea shop owner, are all expected to live.
“My condolences go to the relatives of victims who were burned by fuel inside the shop,” Bol said.
Peter Gatyok Yak, the county health director for Panyijiar, confirmed the casualty figures and said the local health facility provided initial treatment before arranging for the patients’ transfer.
“I saw a group of people carrying people to the health facility,” Peter said. “We found that people were actually severely burned.”
After providing emergency care, he said, authorities arranged for the patients to be transported by boat to a hospital operated by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Leer. The journey took place overnight, and one patient, the boat driver, died during the transit.