Humanitarian vehicle overturns, burns to ashes in Aweil

A vehicle of a trading company that was contracted by the World Food Organization to transport relief items has overturned in the middle of the road in Aweil town and burnt to ashes after catching fire.

The vehicle was carrying 50 tons of sorghum about 500 sacks and 15 tons of Cereal Plus when it veered off the road in an attempt to negotiate a corner after arriving at Aweil Town from Juba.

The police said an unspecified amount of items were looted by residents in the wake of the incident that left the car damaged beyond recognition.

However, Aweil Police Spokesperson Guot Guot Akol said the law enforcement agents were able to recover and hand over some of the food items to Demi Trading Company.

“Today, we are officially handing over 42 sacks of sorghum and 90 cartons of Super Cereal Plus (CSB) to the demi trading company that was contracted by the WFP and in the presence of some WFP staff members and the food will be taken to WFP stores,” said Guot.

The Spokesperson said the accident was a result of a mechanical fault in the front tires which made it difficult for the driver to balance the vehicle on the motion.

 “According to the driver, the front tire bust and the vehicle lost control and it overturned. The truck burnt into ashes and all the items that were in the vehicle scattered and nearby civilians took all the cereals,” he said.

Guot revealed that after further search the police recovered 83 cartons of cereal plus 36 sacks of sorghum.