Dozens of people were killed in Nigeria on Saturday when a tanker truck exploded. This is reported by the Reuters news agency. After a road accident in the northern state of Niger, a crowd had gathered near the truck to collect fuel when an explosion occurred and a fire broke out.
According to the authorities of the West African country, the death toll has now risen to seventy. Dozens of people are also said to have been injured. According to local media, most of the victims were poor residents who came to the incident to scrape up leaked gasoline.
Accidents involving tankers are becoming more common in the country. In October, an explosion in Jigawa state killed more than 160 people, one of Nigeria’s deadliest accidents ever. The truck was involved in a traffic accident, in which leaking fuel ended up on the road surface. Moments later the whole thing exploded.
In the poverty-stricken country – according to the United Nations, a quarter of the population of 33 million people is at risk of going hungry this year – such accidents mobilize many people. Attempts are made to scoop up the valuable fuel using jerry cans and buckets. Fuel prices in the country have risen sharply since the government abruptly ended subsidies on petrol and diesel in 2023. For example, the price of gasoline has increased five times in eighteen months.
After the previous disaster, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu promised to examine whether regulations regarding the safety of fuel transports should be tightened.
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