A fuel tanker has overturned and exploded in Nigeria’s northern Niger State, killing at least 35 people, according to the country’s Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).
The vehicle skidded off the road and spilled petrol, which ignited shortly after the crash, Aishatu Saadu, the state’s FRSC sector commander, said on Tuesday.
Nigeria’s TVC News reported that several more people who were injured in the crash were taken to the Federal Medical Centre Bida for medical attention, with Nigeria’s Channels Television reporting that people were suffering from severe burns.
Niger State Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago offered his “deepest condolences” to the people of Essa in the Katcha local government area, where he said in a statement the tanker explosion “claimed many lives and left several others injured”.
The governor’s chief press secretary, Bologi Ibrahim, added in the statement that several of the people who were caught up in the explosion had approached the tanker after it turned on its side, to try to retrieve its contents.
“This is yet another painful, difficult, and tragic one for the people and the state government,” Bago said in the statement.
The chairman of the Niger State tanker drivers’ association, Farouk Mohammed Kawo, said that the tragedy was “devastating and avoidable,” according to Channels Television.
The tanker was transporting petrol from Lagos in northern Nigeria when it crashed, Kawo said, adding that some 30 crashes have been recorded on the same route in the month of October alone, and that the high rate of accidents is due to the “deplorable state of the road”.
Deadly incidents involving petroleum products are common in Africa’s most populous country, where a lack of pipeline infrastructure means fossil fuels are transported by road.
Poorly maintained roads riddled with potholes contribute to frequent accidents that kill dozens of people annually.
