Nigeria fuel tanker explosion kills more than 140 and injures dozens more

More than 140 people, including children, have been killed and dozens others injured after a fuel tanker overturned and blew up in Nigeria on Wednesday.

The overturned tanker sparked an explosion after dozens of people rushed to the vehicle to scoop up the fuel, police said.

The explosion occurred past midnight in Jigawa state's Majiya town after the tanker driver lost control of the vehicle while travelling on a highway close to a university, police spokesperson Lawan Adam said.

"Close to 140 people were put in a mass grave apart from people buried in other places," Nura Abdullahi, head of the National Emergency Management Agency in the region, told the Associated Press.

Videos that appeared to be from the scene showed a massive fire stretching across the entire area, with what appeared to be bodies littered at the scene.

Mr Adam said: “The driver lost control and the tanker somersaulted and spilled fuel into a drainage ditch.

“As a result, residents rushed to scoop the fuel when the explosion happened.”

Residents of Majiya were in mourning on Wednesday as they held a mass burial for the victims.

The state’s Commissioner of Police warned others to avoid the area.

A statement said: “The state’s commissioner of police, A.T Abdullahi, condoles with the people of Majia town and Jigawa in general for the great loss.

"Avoid the scene of any petrol tanker accident as it always results in death by fire."

The injured have been rushed to nearby Ringim and Hadejia General Hospitals for treatment on their burns.

Deadly tanker accidents are common in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, because traffic regulations are not strictly enforced in many places and there is a lack of alternatives to transport cargo.

It is also common for people to salvage fuel after such accidents, especially with Nigeria's soaring fuel prices.

48 people were killed in September after a fuel tanker crashed into a large truck in Nigeria’s north-central Niger state.

Across 2020, at least 535 people died in petrol tanker crashes according to Nigeria’s Federal Road Safety Corps.

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