LAGOS - A fuel tanker exploded after flipping over in central Nigeria on Saturday killing 70 people who had rushed in to take the fuel, whose price has skyrocketed during the economic crisis.
"The death toll stands at 70 so far," Kumar Tsukwam, the head of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Niger State, told AFP by telephone.
Tsukwam said a truck carrying 60,000 litres of gasoline had an accident at the Dikko junction on the road linking the federal capital Abuja to the northern city of Kaduna.
"Most of the victims were burnt beyond recognition," Tsukwam said. "We are at the scene to clear things up."
An FSRC statement said a "large crowd of people gathered to scoop the fuel" when "suddenly the tanker burst into flames, engulfing another tanker".
"So far 60 corpses recovered from scene, the victims are mostly scavengers," it said.
Niger State Governor Umaru Bago said in a separate statement that an undisclosed number of people had also experienced various degrees of burns.
In October, more than 170 people died in a similar incident in Jigawa State, in northern Nigeria.
In 2020, the FRSC listed 1,531 fuel tanker accidents which claimed over 535 lives.