Tanker explosion kills over 30 people in Niger

From: Yakubu Mustapha, Minna

Over 30 people were reportedly killed and about 40 others injured from tanker explosion while scooping petroleum product in a community in Niger state.
An eyewitness said the accident occurred around 11 o’clock on Tuesday morning at Essan and Badeggi communities; between Bida to Agaie road in Katcha local government area of the state.
It was reliably gathered that the affected victims were involved in the scooping of petroleum product when it exploded, thereby burning the victims.
The Niger State chairman of Tanker Drivers and Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) National Ex-Officio, Comrade Farouk Mohammed Kawo confirmed the incident in an interview in Minna.
He said the tanker was coming from Lagos to the Northern part of the country, carrying petroleum product.
Comrade Farouk Kawo lamented that over 30 tanker trailers were involved in various accidents within this month of October in that particular area.
He revealed that youths in the community are always in the habit of scooping oil from accident vehicles.
He recalled that last Sunday, a tanker carrying groundnut oil had accident and its product was scooped among others in the same area.
The chairman, however, appealed to the Niger state government to urgently come to their aide by grading the area to ease movement and lost of lives and property.