The Director-General of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), Abdullahi Baba-Arab, has confirmed that 48 persons were burnt beyond recognition which resulted in the mass burial conducted in the local government.
Baba-Arab in a statement on Sunday 08, September 2024 revealed that 30 persons and 50 cows lost their lives in the petrol tanker explosion in the Agaie Local Government Area of Niger State.
However, the Niger State SEMA DG in a recent update said 48 persons have been confirmed to have died from the unfortunate accident, necessitating the mass burial in the local government. The people as confirmed were burnt beyond recognition.
It was gathered that the incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday when the petrol tanker had a head-on collision with a truck loaded with travellers and cattle from Wudil in Kano State. According to Baba-Arab, following further search and rescue operations, 18 more bodies were recovered from the 30 bodies earlier reported.
He said “Following further search and rescue operation, my agency discovered 18 more bodies which were also burnt to death and all the dead have been given a mass burial,”.
The statement read, “NSEMA has received a report of a deadly tanker explosion that occurred on Sunday, September 8, 2024, at about 12.30 am along Lapai-Agaie, 2km from Dendo Community in Agaie LGA.
“The incident occurred when a petrol tanker loaded with PMS collided with a truck loaded with travellers and cattle from Wudil in Kano State heading to Lagos, two other vehicles, a crane truck and a pickup van, were also caught in the incident.
“Over 30 people are already confirmed dead, with over 50 cattle burnt. NSEMA’s Rapid Respond Team, in conjunction with the LGEMCs, is still on the scene of the incident conducting a search and rescue operation as more corpses are still trapped inside the trucks.”
Tanker explosions have become imminent in Nigerian roads. Four vehicles and several houses were on Saturday burnt as petrol-loaded trucks caught fire along the Ibadan-Ife road.
It was learnt that the incident happened around the Ajia Circular Road end in Egbeda Local Government Area, causing a traffic standstill, resulting to motorists and commuters being stranded for several hours.
The devastating fire incident occurred at approximately 5:45 pm, involving four vehicles: a petrol tanker, an 18-seater bus, a medium-sized truck, and a Micra taxi.
