Monday May 28, 2012

JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

111 dead in oil blaze after crash in Kenya

World Feb. 01, 2009 - 04:43PM JST ( 7 )

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likeitisFeb. 01, 2009 - 01:11PM JST

An oil spill from a crashed truck erupted into flames Saturday in Kenya, killing at least 50 people who were trying to scoop up free fuel, officials said.

Before you declare how stupid those people are, remember one thing: The only difference between you and them is that you are not desperate for free fuel oil.

I once stopped to help at the scene of a crash where a motorcycle hit a truck as it was turning. I helped get the cycle out of the road. It left quite a big puddle of oil and the two guys who were on the cycle had quite a lot on them. All of us were around the cycle and the puddle when I suddenly snapped at the trucker to get the hell back. Why? He was smoking his cigarette like a chimney, that is why.

I wonder how many of these people were smoking at the time. Yeah, so would some of you. The only difference is that you probably don't need the oil that bad.
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likeitisFeb. 01, 2009 - 06:30PM JST
1. Up from 50 just a little over an hour ago. But don't worry, the fifth column would never make unrecorded changes in an article unless it was just an insignifant detail. No need for them tell you these things. Yeah. Uh-huh.
Moderator: We update stories all the time. You can see by the time the story was posted that it is updated.
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BentoFeb. 02, 2009 - 01:14AM JST

There is a world of difference between fuel oil and petrol..petrol is extremely flammable and explosive in vapour form..liquid fuel oil is quite difficult to light even with a match.Something else that differentiates me from these people is common sense.
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graftonFeb. 02, 2009 - 01:59AM JST

Something we need to keep in mind is that if 111 people have killed then the number of those suffering horrendous burn injuries must be a great deal higher. There is no “nice” way to be killed, but I can’t think of many worse ways to go than fire. Having had a serious lower leg burn as a child I have some idea of the pain. The thought of what happened here & what is still happening with those that lived makes me feel sick. I feel nothing but sorrow for all of them. How it all came about means nothing, these people are paying a very high price for nothing more than needing fuel.
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BentoFeb. 02, 2009 - 02:36AM JST

A high price indeed for stealing petrol.
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VORFeb. 02, 2009 - 02:54AM JST

the news report does not go into the circumstances surrounding the overturned truck. as the story is written, it appears that this tragic event was an accidental vehicle mishap in which poor people tried to take advantage of the opportunity to obtain free fuel and rightfully deserving of our sympathy but there a other scenarios which could have happened but not reported.
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likeitisFeb. 02, 2009 - 09:00AM JST

There is a world of difference between fuel oil and petrol..petrol is extremely flammable and explosive in vapour form..liquid fuel oil is quite difficult to light even with a match.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_oil

Anytime we are discussing petroleum products, you have to understand that many do not have universal names. When those products burn and explode, you have to assume its one of the kinds that burn and explode. That is what I did when I first read the article and I believe it just said "oil" at that time. I changed it to "fuel oil" on my own, understanding the first part of this paragraph already. Their are light fuel oils and heavy fuel oils, and I assumed light because of what happened. What you describe is heavy.

Something else that differentiates me from these people is common sense.

I still think its mostly a lack of need. Its very easy to sit in front of a computer and say "No, I would not be anywhere near that situation." Even I might give in to the moment in times of need. We humans are not half as smart as we think we are.