Collision between a tanker truck and another heavy vehicle causes an explosion; at least 48 dead

A tanker truck carrying gasoline collided with another heavy vehicle in Nigeria on Sunday, September 8, causing an explosion that killed at least forty-eight people, the Public Emergency Management Agency announced. At least fifty heads of cattle transported at the time of the accident were also burned alive, said the director general of the Nigerian Public Emergency Management Agency, Abdullahi Baba-Arab.

Search and rescue operations are underway, he added. Initially, 30 bodies were found, Baba-Arab said, before emergency services recovered 18 more bodies.

In the absence of an efficient rail network, fatal accidents involving trucks are numerous on Nigeria’s major roads. In 2020, more than 1,500 tanker accidents were recorded in the country, resulting in 535 deaths and more than 1,000 injuries, according to Nigeria’s Federal Road Safety Authority.