A fuel truck explosion occurred on Monday in southwest Libya, killing at least six people and injuring scores more, according to medical personnel.
As of the time of filing this report, the cause of the explosion has not been ascertained.
It took place when a mob gathered around the tanker as it was en route to restock a gas station in the Bent Bayyah neighborhood. Images released online show that there was a stampede and then a huge explosion that ignited many automobiles.
Six individuals have passed away, a hospital spokesman in Sebha, the capital of southern Libya, said reporters.
Without giving the number of fatalities, the hospital’s management posted on Facebook that “more than 50 wounded were admitted to Sebha hospital.”
According to a security source in Sebha, hundreds of kilometres (miles) south of Tripoli’s capital, several of the injured were in a critical condition.
Abdulhamid Dbeibah, the interim prime minister, tweeted that his administration was “closely following” the situation.
“We have ordered a crisis cell to urgently transfer the wounded to major hospitals,” he said.
Libya has the greatest known proven oil reserves in Africa, but due to persistent corruption and theft for smuggling to other nations, the pumps frequently run out of fuel.
More than ten years after Muammar Gadhafi was deposed and killed in an uprising supported by NATO in 2011, Southern Libya is severely plagued by subpar services and a lack of investment.