About 90 people were killed and about 50 others were injured when a tanker exploded in Nigeria, a local police spokesperson said.
The petrol tanker exploded after the driver lost control in the town of Majiya, in northwestern Nigeria, at about 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Shi’isu Adam, a spokesperson for the Jigawa regional police, told reporters on Wednesday.
“The driver lost control and the tanker somersaulted and spilled fuel into a drainage ditch,” Jigawa police spokesperson Shiisu Lawan Adam said.
“As a result, residents rushed to scoop the fuel when the explosion happened.”
The blast comes a month after at least 48 people were killed in a similar accident in the north-central Niger state.
Fuel tanker explosions are not unusual in Africa’s most populous country, where oil supplies are frequently dispatched by road.