2006年VOA标准英语-Death Toll Continues to Rise in Benin Tanker Ex

By Joe Bavier
Abidjan
26 May 2006

The number of dead from Wednesday's tanker¹ explosion in northern Benin has risen to more than 60, as many of those who were injured have since died.
 
The accident occurred Wednesday evening, when a tanker truck transporting fuel to the Malian capital, Bamako, overturned in the town of Porga, around 500 kilometers north of Benin's commercial capital, Cotonou.
 
Local residents had begun siphoning fuel from the wreckage², when the tanker exploded, killing³ many instantly.
 
Survivors were brought to the Jean de Dieu Hospital in the nearby town of Tanguieta. Boniface Sambieni is the hospital's director, and spoke⁴ on the phone with VOA.

"We are already at the 31st death among the original 80 wounded brought to the hospital," he said.
 
The hospital was overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster.

"In such situations, there are always things we need," he added. "We are far from the city, and restocking supplies is not easy." But, he says, "We have now received help from the Ministry⁵ of Health in the form of material and personnel."

In particular, the hospital was short of drugs to treat burn victims.

Journalist Gerard Guedegbe says the victims of Wednesday's explosion were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"It was a truck that [was] carrying fuel from Cotonou to Bamako that [had an accident], then the population of the region of Porga found the opportunity to get some fuel, and, unfortunately, the fire occurred," he noted⁶.

Guedegbe said the accident was a rare occurrence in Benin, unlike in neighboring Nigeria, where there is a thriving trade in stolen fuel, and deadly explosions are common.

1 tanker   

n.油轮

参考例句：

• The tanker took on 200,000 barrels of crude oil.油轮装载了二十万桶原油。
• Heavy seas had pounded the tanker into three parts.汹涌的巨浪把油轮撞成三载。

2 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

3 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

6 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。