Days after 98 killed, Niger residents again scoop oil from fallen tanker
Niger residents have again scooped petrol from a fallen truck in another community, a few days after no fewer than 98 people were burnt to death in a tanker explosion that also left scores injured at Dikko, Gurara Local Government Area of the state.
The fresh incident occurred in Bida town on Monday.
In a widely circulated video online, young persons were seen milling around the broken-down truck.
While some managed to scoop, others fled in different directions, apparently to prevent being caught up in an unfortunate situation.
Premium Times quoted a resident, Yinusa Jiya, saying, “The people were not even afraid despite earlier assumption that it was petrol.”
Another eyewitness, Fatimah Mohammed, told the newspaper that the tanker was carrying groundnut oil.
“It fell around AYM Shafa filling station yesterday (Monday), and residents stole huge amounts of the groundnut oil dripping from the tanker”, she added.
The Informant247 reports that the death toll from the devastating tanker explosion, which rocked Dikko, Gurara Local Government Area of Niger State, had risen to 98.
Death toll in Niger tanker explosion hits 98
According to the Director-General of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, Abdullahi Baba-Arah, an update on the development in a statement on Monday, the explosion occurred on Saturday when a tanker conveying petrol crashed, and another tanker was brought to transfer the contents.
He said 69 persons were injured while over 20 shops were destroyed in the incident.
Meanwhile, the survivors of the ugly have been transferred to tertiary medical centres for enhanced attention.
It would be recalled that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had earlier directed the transfer of the surviving persons from the explosion that killed over 80 people over the weekend.
In a statement on Monday, Rabiu Ibrahim, the Special Assistant (Media) to the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said, “20 patients have been admitted to Gwagwalada Specialist Hospital in Abuja.
