Abuja, Nigeria — A fuel tanker collided head-on with another truck in Nigeria on Sunday, causing an explosion that killed at least 52 people, the country’s emergency management agency said. The fuel tanker was also carrying livestock in the Agaie area of ​​north-central Niger state and at least 50 of them were burned alive, said Abdullahi Baba-Arab, director-general of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency.
According to Baba-Arab, search and rescue operations are underway at the scene of the accident.
Reuters
Ibrahim Husseini, a spokesman for SEMA, later confirmed the death toll, saying the victims were given a mass funeral after the early morning explosion.
Mohammed Bago, governor of Niger state, said residents in the affected area should remain calm and asked road users to “always exercise caution and adhere to traffic regulations to protect lives and property.”
With no efficient rail system to transport freight, fatal truck accidents are common on most major roads in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country.
Reuters
According to Nigeria’s Federal Road Safety Corps, there were 1,531 accidents involving petrol trucks in 2020 alone, resulting in 535 deaths and 1,142 injuries.
