Slog

News & Arts

Line Out

Music & the City
at Night

« Confidential to the Seahawks | Cuba to America: Obama, Bad; Kool a… »

Monday, December 21, 2009

International A Truck Carrying Fertilizer Kills an Amazing Amount of People

Posted by Charles Mudede on Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 8:16 AM

Only in Africa:

ABUJA, Nigeria, Dec. 21 (UPI) — Police in Nigeria's Kogi state Monday were looking into what caused a truck loaded fertilizer to crash into a crowd, killing scores of people, officials said.

Several media outlets reported officials confirmed at least 55 people died but the BBC said one person counted at least 100 bodies.

Kogi state police said the truck barreled down a hill at high speed, crashing into several vehicles before smashing into the crowded market in the village of Allo, killing dozens and injuring about 40 people.

Only in Africa. Only in Africa. Poverty is a form of violence.

Comments (20) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

A driver's ed program may help.

Posted by Cato the Younger Younger on December 21, 2009 at 8:32 AM

Poverty had nothing to do with this. Not knowing how to drive did.

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty

on December 21, 2009 at 8:36 AM

Only in Africa? About 40,000 'Mericans die in car crashes every year.

And whenever an airliner goes kablooey we lose 100 or more. Is that the violence of wealth?

Posted by Curmudgeon on December 21, 2009 at 8:37 AM

A truck carrying fertilizer killed a bunch of people in Oklahoma once.

Posted by Asparagus! on December 21, 2009 at 8:38 AM

Only in Africa does a truck full of fertilizer kill an amazing amount of people?

Is this some sort of 'Oklahoma City Never Happened' conspiracy theory?

Posted by mopan on December 21, 2009 at 8:38 AM

God, so so awful.

Posted by Peter F on December 21, 2009 at 8:53 AM

The dead were all gay anyway, no loss no foul.

Posted by slaggy

on December 21, 2009 at 9:28 AM

You know, if the people in that crowd had had fertilizer trucks of their own, they might have been able to defend themselves.

Posted by Judah

on December 21, 2009 at 9:40 AM

If Africa gets the out-of-wedlock birthrate down poverty will also decrease...

Posted by Cause&Effect on December 21, 2009 at 9:45 AM

Comment threads like this make me want to resolve to stop coming to Slog in the New Year, to hold onto what little shreds of belief in the goodness of humanity I have left since the Internet came around.

Posted by Peter F on December 21, 2009 at 9:49 AM

@10 Look how well that worked for Poe. Oh, wait...

Posted by drewl on December 21, 2009 at 9:55 AM

ohhhhhhhhh, shit!

Posted by Josh Bomb

on December 21, 2009 at 10:13 AM

@8: More fertilizer trucks on the streets are not the solution. We need proper fertilizer truck registration and training. Having grown up around fertilizer trucks, I can recognize that they are useful tools that can be very dangerous when not treated with respect.

Posted by doceb on December 21, 2009 at 10:17 AM

How very heartbreaking. So sorry to read this.

Posted by kim in portland

on December 21, 2009 at 10:22 AM

Fertilizer trucks don't kill people, people kill people.

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty

on December 21, 2009 at 10:24 AM

Sounds like "The Wages of Fear, Part II"...

Posted by michael strangeways

on December 21, 2009 at 10:34 AM

I don't think it is "only in Africa." Accidents in India always seem to kill a stupidly amazing number of people, too.

Posted by Libby on December 21, 2009 at 12:01 PM

Wealth is a form of peace, too, I suppose.

Posted by brj on December 21, 2009 at 12:32 PM

What's worse? Getting run over by a truck full of petrochem fertilizer, or organic fertilizer?

Fish-based fertilizer from unsustainable fisheries practices is a form of violence!

Posted by CP on December 21, 2009 at 4:50 PM

Organic Fertilizer
http://www.huschfertilizer.com/products-…
We Provide farmers with consulting and application services, best organic fertilizers to help make your lawn, garden, and fruit trees grow to their full potential.

Posted by Husch Fertilizer on December 21, 2009 at 8:36 PM