23 dead, 130 injured in Sudan factory fire

At least 23 people died and more than 130 were injured in Sudan after a fire triggered an explosion at a factory in northern Khartoum on Tuesday, according to state news agency SUNA.

The incident happened while a tanker truck was offloading gas at a ceramics manufacturing company in an industrial area of the city, SUNA reported.

Sudan’s Council of Ministers said it had set up a committee to investigate the circumstances that led to the fire and how such accidents could be prevented, the agency said.

The council also directed the Ministry of Health to launch a public appeal for blood donations for survivors who are in need of blood transfusions.

The preliminary death toll from the fire was 15, according to the Sudanese Doctors Union, which called on their colleagues that were off-duty to rush to the hospitals to help.

The Central Committee of Sudan Doctors (CCSD) in a post in Arabic on Facebook said many of the wounded in the fire had been taken to several hospitals in the capital for treatment.

CCSD, which led a protest movement calling for a civilian rule in Sudan, pleaded with other health workers in the city to prepare for more casualties as people were being evacuated from the scene of the accident.

Videos shared on social media showed fire and black smoke billowing from the factory as paramedics and rescue workers at the scene searched for victims and tried to put out the inferno.