No fewer than 24 persons have been roasted alive in a tanker explosion that occurred along the Essa axis of the Agaie–Bida Road in Katcha Local Government Area of Niger State, on Tuesday.
Forty others were also severely injured and suffered high degree burns in the incident.
The incident led to heavy traffic gridlock on the major road.
Sector Commander of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Niger Command, Hajiya Aishatu Sa’adu, confirmed the incident but said the casualty figure could not be ascertained as of press time.
She said the unfortunate incident had caused serious traffic gridlock on the ever busy expressway, particularly due to the bad nature of the road.
The FRSC sector commander pointed out that the deplorable state of the road also impacted response time for the rescue operation.
It was gathered that no fewer than 40 persons were injured while scooping fuel from fallen tanker.
The petrol laden tanker reportedly fell around 11am on Tuesday due to deplorable state of the road at Essan, about 4km from Badeggi town.
Residents were said to have trooped to the place to scoop fuel until the tanker exploded around 2pm.
Director General, Niger State Emergency Management Agency, Abdullahi Baba Arah confirmed the incident.
He said 24 people had been confirmed dead while 40 were severely injured.
“It is true that tanker fell down at Essa village. Our rescue officials are on ground. Hajiya Aishatu Sa’adu, and some of them had been taken to Federal Medical Centre, Bida”, he said.
Chairman of Tanker Drivers Association, Niger State Chapter, Farouk Mohammed Kawo also confirmed the incident.
He said the tanker departed from Lagos and en route to the North when it fell down and subsequently got engulfed by fire.
Kawo lamented that over 30 tankers/trailers had been involved in accident on the same road within this month, due to the deplorable state of road.
He appealed to the Niger State Government under the leadership of Governor Mohammed Umar Bago to urgently come to their aid by grading the particular area to ease movement and prevent loss of lives and properties.
The Bida-Agaie-Lapai road has been in the news over similar accidents in the past
At least 48 persons were confirmed dead in an explosion that occurred on the road after petrol tanker had a head-on collision with a truck loaded with travellers and cattle from Wudil in Kano State, last year.
The 48 persons who were burnt beyond recognition were later given mass burial in Lapai Local Government.
Editor’s note: This picture was used for illustrative purposes
