By Amadou Barry and Yusef Taylor, @FlexDan_YT
President Macky Sall’s presidential limousine caught fire on Wednesday on route to Nguéniène. Senegal’s head of state, accompanied by his Malian counterpart, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta to pay their last respect at the funeral of Ousmane Tanor Dieng, the President of the high council of local authorities (Hcct) who died last Monday.
In a video that went viral on social media (above and below) smoke was seen bellowing from the front of the Presidential convoy with two Heads of State and their entourage out in the open for some minutes. Meanwhile panic struck as the crowd tried to put out the sparks emitting from beneath the vehicle. Some locals threw sand on the vehicle in an attempt to put out the fire.
Local radio reports state that the sparks begun after the Limousine hit a speed bump often called sleeping police by the local. This burst the sump which leaked oil and sparked a fire seen in the video below. The fire was eventually controlled by the Fire Services following the Presidential convoy.
The two heads of state were later transferred to another vehicle. This begs the question why the two Heads of state were not ushered into another vehicle quicker? It seems that the fire preparedness of the Presidential protocol was not inadequate to deal with the car fire swiftly and adequately.