By Smart Emmanuel
A fuel tanker has exploded on Tuesday night at Majiya town of Jigawa state, northern Nigeria, killing over 150 people. Many of the victims were individuals who rushed to the scene of the accident in hopes of collecting leaking petrol.
The incident occurred at about 10:30 pm local time.
“Close to 140 people were put in a mass grave apart from people buried in other places,” said Nura Abdullahi, head of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in the region, to The Associated Press.
Aside the ones who died, about 100 others sustained various degrees of injuries and have been taken to various hospitals in the area.
The tanker heading to Nguru town in Yobe state, was coming from Kano, a distance of about 110 kilometres from Majiya, when the driver lost control of the vehicle. It exploded and engulf in fire.
Despite effort of law enforcement officers to cordon off the area, people trooped the scene to scoop petrol, a commodity that has become expensive in Nigeria.
Spokesman of Jigawa State Police Command, Lawal Shiisu Adam, told journalists that law enforcement agents were overpowered by the crowd who went to scoop the petrol from the tanker.
“We are worried that in spite of police warning for people to steer clear from scenes of accidents involving fuel tankers, they still engage in such acts.
“People gathered around the accident scene. That is the reason for the mass casualty,” he said.
The driver has however escaped from the accident unhurt.
Video of the accident which circulated on social media show moments after the fire engulfed the tanker.
Pictures from the scene show many of the victims burnt beyond recognition.
