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The accident occurred at midnight in Jigawa state's Majiya town
after the tanker driver lost control of the vehicle while
traveling on a highway, local police spokesperson Lawan Adam
said.
Ninety-seven people were “burned to ashes” at the scene while
eight others died at the hospital, Dr. Haruna Mairiga, head of
the Jigawa State Emergency Management Agency, told The
Associated Press.
Deadly tanker accidents are common in Nigeria, Africa’s most
populous country, where traffic regulations are not strictly
enforced in many places and there is a lack of alternatives such
as an efficient railway system to transport cargo.
It is also common for people to salvage fuel with cups and
buckets to take home after such accidents. The practice has
become more common amid Nigeria's soaring fuel prices, which
have tripled since the start of last year as Nigeria ended
costly gas subsidies.
The driver involved in the latest accident had traveled about
110 kilometers (68 miles) from the neighboring Kano state,
police said.
Residents who heard about the accident rushed to the scene and
were scooping up fuel, “sparking a massive inferno,” police
spokesman Lawan Adam said.
Videos that appeared to be from the scene showed a massive fire
stretching across the entire area, with what appeared to be
bodies littered at the scene.
Residents in Majiya town were in mourning on Wednesday morning
as locals held a mass burial for the victims. Most of the bodies
were unrecognizable, the emergency services said.
“If they knew (about the danger), they wouldn’t have gone to
fetch (the fuel)," said Mairiga, head of the emergency services.
He said emergency services only arrived at the scene several
hours after the accident. “But the incident had already happened
... those caught up (in the fire) were burned to ashes,” Mairiga
said.
In one of the videos, the person who recorded the clip appeared
to try to mobilize others to help the victims. “It’s burning the
body!” he shouted. “He will die ... when the vehicle explodes
there will be a problem.”
Resident Sani Umar told the local Channels Television how the
fire "spread so quickly that many couldn’t escape.”
"People were running in all directions, screaming for help,"
Umar said.
“This is a heartbreaking moment for us all,” said state police
commissioner Ahmadu Abdullahi.
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