Tanker explosion kills 90, injures 50 ‘while scooping petrol’

More than 90 people have been killed and about 50 others wounded after an overturned fuel tanker exploded in Jigawa State, North Western Nigeria, according to police.

The overnight explosion took place on an expressway in Majiya Town, Taura Local Government Area of the state as people rushed to the vehicle to scoop fuel, a police spokesman said on Wednesday.

“The residents were scooping up fuel from the overturned tanker when the explosion occurred, sparking a massive inferno that killed 94 people on the spot,” Lawan Adamu told The Associated Press news agency.

The fire burned into the early hours of Wednesday.

Last month, at least 48 people were killed in an explosion after a fuel tanker collided with another truck in Nigeria’s north-central Niger State.

Deadly truck accidents are common along most of the main roads in Nigeria, with experts attributing many of them to reckless driving, poor road conditions and ill-maintained vehicles.

In 2020 alone, there were 1,531 petrol tanker crashes resulting in 535 deaths and injuries to 1,142 people, according to Nigeria’s Federal Road Safety Corps.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company in early September increased the price of petrol by at least 39 percent, the second steep hike in more than a year.