Nigeria: 5 dead and 13 injured in the explosion of a tanker truck in Lagos
Five people were killed and 13 seriously injured in the explosion of a tanker truck in Lagos, Nigeria's economic megalopolis, the emergency services said on Friday June 18.
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The tanker, loaded with fuel, overturned on the road and exploded on Thursday evening in the central district of Ikeja, causing a fire which spread to surrounding buildings and cars. "Five people were killed, three of them at the scene of the accident and two others succumbed to their injuries in hospital," said Femi Oke-Osanyantolu, of the local emergency management agency (SEMA). . The emergency services mobilized to the scene were able to extinguish the fire in the middle of the night, around 12:30 a.m.
Tanker and pipeline explosions are very common in Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer, but where the majority of some 200 million people live in poverty and where infrastructure and transport are failing. In April, 12 people died in a similar incident in central Benue state.
In October 2019, a tanker truck exploded and caused a fire in Lagos killing at least five people, eight seriously injured, and damaging more than a hundred homes and businesses.
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