According to police, at least 12 people were killed when a gasoline tanker crashed on a major road in Nigeria’s northcentral Kogi State and exploded.
A police spokesman told The Associated Press that the tanker had a brake failure along a major road in the Ofu council area on Thursday night when it collided with a vehicle obstructing the highway, resulting in a fireball.
According to William Ovye Aya of the Kogi police command, the vehicle “crushed cars on the way” and “12 people were killed” – all of whom were burned to death.
According to Bisi Kazeem of Nigeria’s Federal Road Safety Corps, the crash involved 18 people. According to Kazeem, seven people suffered “various degrees of injuries,” while the remaining 11 were “burned beyond recognition” at the scene.
Kazeem stated that the road has been cordoned off and that road safety workers are working to identify the victims.
Such accidents are common on most major roads in Nigeria, despite new measures put in place by the country’s road safety corps. Kogi is a well-known hotspot, with over ten people killed in a similar crash last September.
