The fuel tanker was also carrying cattle in the Agaie area in north-central Niger state, and at least 50 of them were burned alive, the Associated Press (AP) reported citing Abdullahi Baba-Arab, director-general of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, on Sunday.
Search and rescue operations were underway at the scene of the accident, Baba-Arab said.
Baba-Arab said initially that 30 bodies were found, but in a later statement said that an additional 18 bodies of victims who were burned to death in the collision were found. He said the dead had been given a mass burial.
In 2020 alone, there were 1,531 gasoline tanker crashes resulting in 535 fatalities and 1,142 injuries, according to Nigeria’s Federal Road Safety Corps.
AMK/PR