Bida town residents were spotted congregating around another downed truck just two days after a tanker explosion in Niger State killed over 90 persons and injured several others.
The most recent occurrence happened close to the AYM Shafa filling station on Monday, January 20. Videos of people swarming around the wrecked truck have been making the rounds online.
Some were observed running, probably out of fear of another disaster, while others were able to gather its contents. Witnesses’ descriptions of the truck’s contents varied.”
The people were not even afraid despite earlier assumptions that it was petrol,” Yinusa Jiya, a resident, told reporters. “It fell around AYM Shafa filling station yesterday (Monday), and residents stole huge amounts of the groundnut oil dripping from the tanker,” explained Fatimah Mohammed, another witness, who claimed the tanker was carrying groundnut oil.
This development comes in the wake of a devastating tanker explosion at Dikko Junction, Gurara Local Government Area of Niger State, where at least 98 individuals lost their lives. The death toll has continued to grow as some of those who endured severe injuries succumbed in hospitals.
The Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) stated that 86 victims were buried in a mass grave on Sunday. There are still people in different hospitals who are being treated for first-degree burns.
Fuel scooping is a risky technique that caused the explosion, and authorities have blamed citizens for the disaster. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has instructed the National Orientation Agency (NOA) to step up efforts to draw attention to the practice.
The increasing number of fatalities and the extent of the victims’ injuries have alarmed the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF). Niger State has experienced a number of tanker-related incidents in recent years, including the September 8, 2024, midnight explosion of a tanker along the Agaie-Badeggi road that killed over 50 travelers.