They come to collect the gasoline from the ground after a tanker truck overturns: it explodes and kills 96 people

This Saturday, January 18, 2025, a tanker truck exploded in Nigeria and caused nearly a hundred deaths according to a new report. A crowd had gathered to recover fuel around it.

The explosion of a tanker truck that overturned on the road left at least 60 dead and several injured in northern Nigeria on Saturday, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) announced in an initial report. Today, the death toll has risen to 98 according to AFP.

The latter was carrying 60,000 liters of gasoline and had an accident on the road linking the federal capital Abuja to the city of Kaduna. “The fuel spilled on the ground and a crowd of people gathered to pick it up, but the tanker suddenly caught fire, engulfing another tanker with it,”, explains a FRSC note.

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Economic Crisis

Nigeria has been going through an economic crisis for a year and a half, particularly due to the soaring price of petrol, which therefore pushes the inhabitants to take all the risks to try to recover fuel. A price that has increased fivefold in eighteen months.

Most of the victims were local residents who sought to collect oil spilled on the road, according to Kumar Tsukwam of the FRSC. “Suddenly, the truck burst into flames, engulfing another tanker truck. So far, 60 bodies have been recovered from the scene of the incident”, he added.

A similar incident left 147 dead in October in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country.