Apparently, at least 30 people lost their lives and about 40 suffered injuries of varying degrees in the explosion of a tanker truck.
The incident was learned to have occurred on Tuesday morning in Essan and Badeggi communities along the Bida-Agaie road in Katcha Local Government Area.
According to eyewitnesses, the victims were collecting petroleum products from the overturned tanker when it exploded, and some bodies were burned beyond recognition.
They indicated that the injured were rushed to nearby hospitals in the area to receive treatment.
Confirming the incident, Farouk Mohammed Kawo, Chairman of Tanker Drivers and NUPENG of Niger State, stated that the tanker was transporting petroleum products from Lagos to the north.
Kawo regretted that in the month of October alone, more than 30 tankers had accidents in the same area.
He also condemned the community’s custom of collecting oil from accident-prone vehicles, while citing a recent incident in which a peanut oil tanker truck overturned and residents collected its contents.
The President appealed to the administration of Governor Mohammed Umar Bago to urgently level the affected road to prevent further loss of life and property.
He then emphasized the need for government intervention to address the recurring accidents on the state’s roads.
Efforts to contact the state’s Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, for confirmation failed at the time of filing this report.