About 30 persons have been killed, while no fewer than 40 others sustained various degrees of injuries from a fuel-laden motor tanker explosion in a community in Niger state.
An eyewitness said that the accident occurred around 11:am on Tuesday morning at Essan and Badeggi communities between Bida-Agaie road in Katcha local government area of the state.
The Sector Commander FRSC, Niger State Command, Hajiya Aishatu Sa’adu, confirmed the incident to the News Agency of the Newsmen in Minna on Tuesday through a telephone conversation
According to her, ‘the tragedy occurred when some residents attempted to scoop fuel from the fallen tanker, which later exploded into a ball of fire .
Sa’adu said, ‘the injured victims were evacuated and rushed to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Bida for medical treatment, with the support of FRSC personnel, villagers, and some good Samaritans.’
She stated further that preliminary investigations revealed that the crash was a lone accident resulting from loss of control by the tanker driver.
The sector commander, however, cautioned motorists to exercise utmost care and adhere strictly to traffic regulations in order to avoid unnecessary loss of lives.
She also warned members of the public against scooping fuel from accident scenes, just as she described it as a dangerous act that had claimed many lives in the past.
‘It is God that gives wealth. People should avoid greed and be contented with whatever God has given them,’ she urged.
The Niger State chairman of Tanker Drivers and Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) National Ex-Officio, Comrade Farouk Mohammed Kawo, also confirmed the incident in an interview in Minna, saying that the tanker was coming from Lagos to the northern part of the country, carrying petroleum products.
Kawo lamented that over 30 tanker trailers had been involved in accidents within October in that particular area of the road.
He further disclosed that some youths in the community had allegedly continued to scoop oil from the vehicles, including last Sunday, when a tanker trailer carrying groundnut oil had an accident and its product was scooped among others in the same area.
The chairman, therefore, appealed to the Niger state government under the leadership of Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago to urgently come to their aid by grading the particular area of the road to ease movement and prevent further loss of lives and properties.