MAIDUGURI: A petrol tanker truck exploded after flipping over in central Nigeria on Saturday, killing 70 people who had gathered to take the spilt fuel, the national road safety authority said.

“The death toll stands at 70 so far,” Kumar Tsukwam, the head of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Niger State, said by telephone.

“Most of the victims were burnt beyond recognition,” Tsukwam said. “We are at the scene to clear things up.” He added that the victims mostly were impoverished local residents who had rushed to scoop up the spilled petrol after the truck overturned.

An FRSC statement said: a “large crowd of people gathered to scoop the fuel” when “suddenly the tanker burst into flames, engulfing another tanker”. “So far 70 corpses recovered from scene, the victims are mostly scavengers,” it said.

Victims were impoverished local residents who had rushed to scoop up spilled petrol

The accident in Niger state follows a similar blast in Jigawa state last Oct that killed 147 people, one of the worst such tragedies in Africa’s most populous nation. Such accidents have become common in Africa’s largest oil producer, killing several people in the country grappling with its worst cost of living crisis in a generation.

Soaring gasoline price

Last year, shortly after his election, President Bola Tinubu abolished a fuel subsidy, sending prices of essentials and other goods soaring, triggering protests. The price of gasoline has increased more than 400 per cent in 18 months, leading many to risk their lives to recover fuel during tanker truck accidents, which are common in Africa’s most populous country.

Niger State Governor Umaru Bago said in a statement that the explosion was “worrisome, heartbreaking and unfortunate”. He said an undisclosed number of people also experienced various degrees of burns.

In September, another fuel tanker exploded after colliding with a truck carrying passengers and cattle, killing at least 59 people. The National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPCL) said in the same month it was struggling with debts to suppliers. The nation’s main importer of fuel, said indebtedness and rising prices hampered its ability to supply gasoline to Africa’s most-populated nation, as per a report from Bloomberg.

Deadly fires and explosions also happen in the fuel and oil infrastructure in Nigeria, one of the continent’s largest crude producers where petroleum theft is a major issue. Accidents involving tankers are frequent in the country, with the FRSC recording 1,531, causing 535 deaths, in 2020. Two years ago, around 110 people died when an illegal oil refinery exploded in southern Nigeria.

According to FRSC, more than 5,000 people died in road accidents in Nigeria in 2023, compared to nearly 6,500 the previous year. However, according to the World Health Organisation, the figures do not take into account accidents not reported to the authorities. It estimates annual road accident deaths in Nigeria to be nearly 40,000, in a report published in 2023.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2025