The tragedy is the latest such incident at a time when gasoline has become a valuable commodity in a country that is experiencing its worst economic crisis in a generation.
A fuel tanker swerved to avoid another vehicle and crashed late on Tuesday evening in Majiya town in Jigawa state, police said.
After the disaster, residents crowded around the overturned tanker to collect leaking fuel.
Student Sanusi Lawan told AFP he heard “cries of joy” and rushed to join hundreds of people collecting fuel with buckets.
The 21-year-old took the bucket home and his brother convinced him not to go back for more when they heard a “huge explosion and screams of pain and terror.”
“We rushed to the scene and it was a horrific scene,” Lawan said. “During the fire, people were running and screaming for help.”
“If I hadn’t listened to my brother’s advice, I would have been among the dead,” he said.
– Mass grave –
The national rescue agency said 147 people died.
Hambali Zarga, the head of the local government, told AFP that the figures only included bodies buried in one mass grave and warned that the death toll was likely to rise.
Dozens of victims were “burned beyond recognition,” he told AFP at the grave.
He said more bodies were buried elsewhere and about 140 injured residents were being treated at nearby hospitals.
The Nigerian Medical Association has urged doctors to rush to emergency rooms to help deal with the influx of patients.
In the capital Abuja, Nigerian lawmakers observed a minute of silence in the Senate.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu pledged to support those affected by the disaster and said he was “committed to a rapid and comprehensive review of fuel transportation safety protocols across the country.”
– “Fuel is gold” –
Fuel tanker explosions are common in Africa’s most populous country, where roads can be in poor condition.
Since Tinubu abolished subsidies last year, the price of petrol has quintupled and shortages are common.
Desperation grew even more last week when the state oil company raised prices for the second time in just over a month.
“Everyone knows the risk of collecting fuel in the event of a tanker disaster, but the poverty level is too high to resist the temptation,” student Lawan, who was at the scene, told AFP.
“Fuel is gold now” amid the economic crisis, he said.
Police spokesman Lawan Shiisu Adam said the crowd “overwhelmed” officers trying to arrest them, according to eyewitnesses.
“There is pervasive poverty in the country and people will do anything to get what they need to eat,” said Buhari Ali, a 30-year-old government official who took part in the mass burial.
“People are hungry and can’t afford to miss out on such a rare opportunity.”
– Dangerous roads –
Accidents involving tank trucks are common in the country. The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) recorded 1,531 accidents in 2020, resulting in 535 deaths.
Last month, at least 59 people were killed in northwestern Niger state when a fuel tanker collided with a truck carrying passengers and cattle.
The FRSC said more than 5,000 people died in road accidents in Nigeria in 2023, up from almost 6,500 the previous year.
However, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), these figures do not include accidents that were not reported to the authorities.
In a report published last year, the WHO estimated the annual number of road fatalities in Nigeria to be almost 40,000.
Deadly fires and explosions are also taking place at fuel and oil infrastructure in Nigeria, one of the continent’s largest oil producers.
Leave a Reply