At least 48 killed in fuel truck explosion, victims get mass burial
At least 48 people were killed Sunday in a fuel tanker truck explosion following a collision with another vehicle in Niger state in north-central Nigeria, the state’s disaster management agency said.
The State Emergency Management Agency in north-central Niger state said the fuel truck collided with a truck carrying travelers and cattle. Several other vehicles were also caught up in the accident, it said.
Local media reported that two of the other vehicles — a crane truck and a pickup van —were involved in the accident and caught in the fire.
The emergency management agency’s spokesperson Hussaini Ibrahim put the death toll at 48 and officials were still trying to clear the scene of the incident.
Nigeria’s state-owned firm NNPC Ltd last week hiked the price of gasoline by at least 39%, the second major increase in more than a year but shortages have continued, forcing motorists to queue for hours in the country’s major cities and towns.
The 48 persons have been given mass burial after a petrol tanker explosion in Agaie Local Government Area of Niger State.
The incident occurred in the early morning of Sunday when the petrol tanker had a head-on collision with a trailer truck loaded with travellers and cattle from Wudil in Kano state.
The Director General of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, Abdullahi Baba-Arab who gave the update on Sunday, also confirmed that 48 persons whose bodies were burnt beyond recognition had been given mass burial in the local government.
According to him, following further search and rescue operations 18 more bodies were recovered from the 30 bodies earlier reported.
VOA and Punch
