Pressure tank explosion kills three

Three people died while one was seriously injured this afternoon when a pressure tank exploded in Mt Hampden just outside Harare.

The blast comes barely a fortnight after an explosion in Chitungwiza claiming five lives.

The explosion that occurred Friday afternoon at Hwata Farm also left one person seriously injured and battling for life at Parirenyatwa Hospital.

According to the farm owner Phineas Hwata, the three people who died had been curing tobacco and allegedly forgot to release a valve leading to pressure building in the tank before it explode.

"This is the pressure tank which allegedly flew across a distance of approximately one hundred metres destroying everything in its path including the lives of three men."

When the News crew arrived at the farm soon after the explosion, police details and Red Cross personnel were already attending to the scene, while bodies of the deceased were yet to be taken to the mortuary.

Fellow farm workers and family members of the deceased were still in shock following the tragic incident.

The names of the deceased are being withheld as their next of keen are yet to be informed.

Initial investigations indicate the explosion could have been caused by human error.