More than 100 killed in Nigeria fuel tanker explosion

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More than 100 people have been killed in Nigeria after they rushed to scoop up petrol from a tanker that overturned and then caught fire, police said on Wednesday, as the country’s citizens struggle with a surge in fuel prices.

The incident was the latest fatal tanker explosion in Nigeria, where petrol and other fuels are transported in lorries over long distances and often on poorly maintained roads.

The accident took place late on Tuesday in the town of Majia in northern Jigawa state, nearly 600km from the capital Abuja. Lawal Shiisu Adam, the state’s police spokesperson, said the tanker had been ferrying fuel from Kano, the economic capital of northern Nigeria, to Yobe state via Jigawa when the driver “lost control” of the tanker.

Adam said police cordoned off the area after the crash but were soon overwhelmed by a crowd who rushed to collect spilled fuel. Videos posted on social media showed a fiery inferno. Scores of people were also injured in the blast.

Fuel prices have increased nearly fivefold over the past year following the government’s decision to cut fuel subsidies and a slide in the naira currency, which has lost about 70 per cent of its value against the dollar since June.

Nigeria’s state-owned oil company last week increased petrol prices by more than 15 per cent, marking the second rise in less than a month and the formal end of its costly subsidy programme.

In the absence of an efficient rail network to move goods across the vast nation, fuel is usually transported in tankers over long distances by road. The country has an under-developed road network that is patchy in many areas and traffic rules are not strictly followed or enforced.

Accidents involving fuel transportation in Africa’s most populous nation are frequent, with Nigerians often rushing to accident scenes to salvage fuel in buckets and other containers from the tankers.

Last month, almost 60 people died after a collision between a fuel tanker and a truck containing passengers and cattle in north-central Niger state. Nigeria’s road safety agency reported that more than 5,000 people were killed in road crashes last year, but the World Health Organization estimated the number at closer to 40,000, arguing that many accidents are not reported to authorities.

Africa accounts for 19 per cent of road traffic deaths despite having 15 per cent of the global population and only 3 per cent of the world’s vehicle fleet, according to WHO data.

Sani Umar, a resident who escaped the fire, was quoted by the local Channels TV that the episode was “terrifying”.

Umar added: “People were running in all directions, screaming for help. The fire spread so quickly that many couldn’t escape.”