Kidapawan motorists suffer burns while buying fuel at Takal-Takal

KIDAPAWAN CITY - The danger of buying gasoline from a side walk fuel vendor takes its toll on a motorist in Kidapawan City Friday.More known as takal-takal because it sells retail fueloutside a legitimate Gasoline Station with softddrink bottles as containers, proliferate along major highways here and its patrons are mostly tricycle and motorcycle drivers.This practice is not the monopoly of Kidapawan City or the Philippines as similar vendors also sell fuels along the busy streets of Jakarta, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand.On Friday in Barangay Paco, Kidapawan City, Albert Aranas filled gasoline from a roadside Takal-Takal stand. The vendor, later known as Princesa was playing a cigarette lighterwhile filling the special gasoline on Aranas motorcycle.As expected, a conflagration ensued which left 26-year-old Aranas suffering from first degree burns.The gas tank of his motorbike was also damaged.Princesa quickly fled and is now the subject of police manhunt while Aranas is in the hospital.