ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — More than 140 people, including children, were killed in Nigeria when a gasoline tanker truck overturned and caught fire as they tried to get fuel, emergency services said Wednesday. Dozens were injured.
Fatal tanker accidents They are common in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, which lacks an efficient railway system for transporting goods. People often save fuel with cups and buckets, especially because of this High fuel pricesWhich has tripled since the government ended costly gas subsidies last year.
Police spokesman Lawan Adam said the latest accident occurred at midnight in Majia town in the northern state of Jigawa when the truck driver lost control on the highway. Residents rushed to the scene before the “massive inferno” occurred.
Emergency services said most of the bodies had not been identified.
“Approximately 140 people were placed in a mass grave, in addition to people buried elsewhere,” the head of the National Emergency Management Agency in the region, Noura Abdullah, told the Associated Press.
Dr. Haruna Miriga, head of Jigawa’s emergency services, said most of the other victims were “burned to ashes” at the scene.
“If they had known (the danger), they would not have gone to get (fuel),” Meriga said.
But resident Suni Omar told local TV channels that the fire spread so quickly that many were unable to escape. “People were running in all directions and screaming for help,” Omar said.
More than 1,500 fuel tanker accidents occurred in Nigeria in 2020, killing 535 people, according to the Federal Road Safety Authority of Nigeria. Experts say that in many cases, no prosecutions take place and neither the victims nor their families are compensated.
At least 48 people were killed last September when a fuel tanker collided with another truck in north-central Nigeria.
The latest accident raised questions about the implementation of safety measures and traffic regulations in the West African country.
Timothy Ewagwu, president of the Institute of Safety Professionals of Nigeria, said many tankers were not designed according to international best practices to avoid spillage during accidents. He said agencies charged with enforcing safety regulations often fail to do so.
“There are also not enough awareness campaigns, and people deliberately do not adhere” to safety measures when such accidents occur, Ewagwu said.
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