This past Sunday, 25 June, approximately 49 cars burned to the ground at the 2023 Toyota 1000 Desert Race in the small mining town of Jwaneng, southern Botswana, SA Trucker reported.
Fortunately, no deaths or injuries have been reported thus far as the incident took place while most owners were enjoying the action-packed racing.
Braai gone wrong
Eyewitnesses at the Desert Race claim that the fire came from a glowing ember that fell off a food vendor’s braai onto the dry winter grass, which proceeded to immediately catch flame and engulf the nearby vehicles waiting in the parking lot.
Owners saw the incident and rushed to the scene, but many were too late as their cars were already in ashes or busy burning.
Emergency services were called shortly after the fire broke out but firefighters struggled to contain the flames due to the sheer number of vehicles that were set alight and the wintery conditions that are conducive to veld fires.
This man’s pain, koore 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭💔 pic.twitter.com/VYtvFmvQBr
— Maity (@maity101) June 25, 2023
In the many videos that have since emerged on social media, onlookers can be seen pushing vehicles out of harm’s way but only a handful could be saved as the fire jumped from one to the other within minutes.
Models such as Ford Rangers, VW Golfs, Toyota Quantums, a Hyundai Tucson, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, and more all met their fiery demise.
It must be noted that the Botswana police said it is still “investigating the cause of the fire” and no official statements have been released at the time of writing. The authorities are currently assessing eyewitness accounts and collecting more evidence to get to the bottom of the unfortunate incident.
As the investigation continues, further details are expected to come to light on the actual reason for the fire and the number of vehicles that were damaged.
The organizers of the event have reportedly issued a statement expressing their concern and commitment to cooperating with the authorities to determine the cause of the incident, and they have reassured the public that all necessary precautions will be taken to prevent similar incidents in the future.
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