State-run oil company Nilepet has donated food and medicines to victims of the Maridi tanker explosion undergoing treatment at Juba Teaching Hospital.

According to the South Sudan Red Cross, 110 patients from the explosion are burnt at more than 40% of skin surface. Many were evacuated to Juba while others remain in Maridi.

Nilepet's donation includes sugar, drugs, flour, and powdered milk.

Nilepet Managing Director Joseph Cleto said the donation was given “to show our solidarity with the sick and injured at the hospital. We came to give them the small things that we could give them... but we don't have in our hands something to give more than this.”

In remarks after receiving the gifts from Nilepet, the Health Minister John Gai applauded Nilepet for the assistance, saying that this was a time when the Maridi tragedy affected the whole community of South Sudan and brought people together in helping the victims.

“If something is paining in the body, the whole body will not sleep. So this is what happened – with the pain in Maridi, the whole country hurts, it does not sleep, are not happy, and people are sad,” said Gai.

Photo: Medical personnel treat a Maridi burn victim (ICRC / Layal Horanieh)

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