A gas tanker exploded after flipping over in central Nigeria on Saturday, killing 70 individuals who had scrambled to take the gas.
Kumar Tsukwam, the pinnacle of the Federal Highway Security Corps (FRSC) in Niger State, stated a truck carrying 60,000 litres of gasoline had an accident at about 10am on the Dikko junction on the street linking the federal capital Abuja to the northern metropolis of Kaduna.
“Many of the victims have been burnt past recognition,” Tsukwam stated. “We’re on the scene to clear issues up.”
An FSRC assertion stated a “giant crowd of individuals gathered to scoop the gas” when “immediately the tanker burst into flames, engulfing one other tanker.
“Thus far 60 corpses recovered from scene, the victims are largely scavengers,” it stated.
Final 12 months, President Bola Tinubu abolished a gas subsidy, sending costs of necessities and different items hovering, triggering protests.
The value of gasoline has elevated fivefold in 18 months, main many to threat their lives to get better gas throughout tanker truck accidents, that are frequent in Africa’s most populous nation.
Niger state governor Umaru Bago stated in a press release that the explosion was “worrisome, heartbreaking and unlucky”.
He stated an undisclosed variety of folks additionally skilled varied levels of burns.
In October, greater than 170 folks died in an identical incident in Jigawa State, in northern Nigeria.
In 2020, the FRSC listed 1,531 gas tanker accidents which claimed greater than 535 lives.
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