Following a tragic tanker explosion in Niger, victims have been given a mass burial as the community mourns the loss of lives and authorities investigate the cause of the disaster.
A total of 48 individuals were buried in a mass grave following an explosion caused by a petrol tanker in Niger State’s Agaie Local Government Area.
On an early Sunday morning, a petrol tanker collided head-on with a trailer truck carrying passengers and cattle from Wudil in Kano state.
On Sunday, Abdullahi Baba-Arab, Director General of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), announced that 48 individuals who were unidentifiable due to burns had been laid to rest in a communal burial site within their respective local government area.
He stated that an additional 18 bodies were found during subsequent search and rescue efforts, bringing the total to 48 from the original report of 30.
He stated that after conducting additional search and rescue missions, his agency uncovered 18 additional charred remains. The deceased have since been interred in a mass grave.
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Baba-Arab announced the accident occurrence on a Sunday statement, revealing that it took place at approximately 12:30 am along Lapai-Agaie road – specifically, within 2km of Dendo Community located in Agaie LG.
Additionally, he revealed that the blaze claimed the lives of more than 50 cows while a crane truck and a pickup van were engulfed in flames.
According to the NSEMA statements, there was a fatal tanker explosion on Sunday, September 8th in the year 2024. The incident occurred at around 12:30 am near Dendo Community which is located about two kilometers away from Lapai-Agaie in Agaie LGA.
The collision took place when a tanker carrying PMS crashed into a trailer truck filled with passengers and livestock from Wudil in Kano State en route to Lagos. Additionally, two other vehicles- -a crane truck and pickup van–were also involved in the accident.
As of now, more than 30 individuals have been reported dead and over 50 cattle have perished in flames. The NSEMA’s Rapid Respond Team (RRT), working with LGEMCs, remains at the site to carry out search and rescue missions as several bodies remain trapped inside the trucks.
