BINTULU: A man was killed whereas five vehicles and one motorcycle were burnt in an explosion after an oil tanker’s load spilled when the vehicle hit the road divider and overturned at the traffic light junction opposite Bintulu Medical Centre (BMC), at Medan Central here in Bintulu at noon yesterday.
Bintulu District Police Chief Superintendent Zailani Amit said the oil tanker was coming from Kidurong and wanted to turn around at the scene to head towards Tanjung Batu in a relatively speedy manner.
When it wanted to do the turning, the lorry hit the road divider and caused the lorry to be unstable and overturned.
“This caused the oil tanker to explode and burned,” he said
He added that five vehicles and one motorcycle that stopped at the traffic light from the opposite direction leading towards Kidurong were burned.
“The victim, Martin Joshua, 31, was found underneath a Toyota Fortuner four-wheel-drive vehicle which was also destroyed in the incident,” said Zailani.
He said it was a peak time with people sending and taking children from school leading to the crowded road condition.
The victim’s body was taken to the Forensic Unit of Bintulu General Hospital for a post-mortem, the local police chief said.
Head of Bintulu Fire and Rescue Station, Di-Hatta Gobel said his side received an emergency call and went out with the strength of 17 firefighters headed by Senior Fire Officer (PBK) II with FRT Scania and Water Tanker.
The extinguishing operations had been performed using 3 flow 5 nozzles with water sources from fire hydrants including one flow using foam.
Police and medical personnel were also at the scene to help.
