A diesel tanker belonging to Dukes Petroleum overturned on the Accra-Tema motorway on Friday, May 12, 2023, causing a scramble for the spilt fuel among drivers and residents.
They ignored the danger of the flammable liquid and rushed to fill their gallons and containers with the precious commodity, citing the hard economic times as their motivation. “We couldn’t let this opportunity go to waste, so I grabbed some fuel for my car,” some of them told Adom News’ Ohene Amponsah.
The accident reportedly happened about 200 meters before the toll booth at the Accra end of the motorway, which is a 19-kilometre highway that links Tema to Accra, the capital of Ghana. The tanker driver was trying to avoid a collision with a saloon car when he lost control of his vehicle. The spilt fuel created a hazard for other road users as it made the road slippery and resulted in traffic congestion on the highway.
The situation became chaotic as some drivers who were using the road abandoned their cars to join the residents in scooping the fuel. They argued that diesel was less likely to explode than petrol or other fuels.
However, this was a risky move as there have been cases where people died while attempting to collect spilt fuel from tankers involved in accidents.
Thankfully, no one was injured or killed in this incident on the motorway.
