![A 60,000 litre petrol-laden tanker, with registration number KBG-103-XAX, was en route to Gwagwalada in the FCT when it detached from its head as resident trooped in to scoop the spilling fuel. Unfortunately, they met their end. [PHOTO CREDIT: Yakubu Mohammed]](https://i0.wp.com/media.premiumtimesng.com/wp-content/files/2025/01/20250118_171602-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1440&ssl=1)
When the 60,000-litre petrol tanker detached from its head and fell near Sabon Kasuwa in Dikko, Gurara LGA of Niger State, around 7 a.m. on Saturday, no one saw what was coming.
Some poverty-ravaged residents only gathered to scoop the spilling fuel while the truck driver tried to evacuate the fuel into another tanker using a pumping machine.
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Unfortunately, fire erupted, killing those scooping up the fuel and other people passing by. The fire, which raged for several hours before firefighters doused it, also destroyed multimillion Naira goods.
The Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), in a statement, estimated the death toll from the incident to be more than 80.
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This was as fuel kept dripping from the exploded tanker a day after the incident.
The dead were given a mass burial at the premises of Dikko Primary Healthcare (PHC), where many of the victims were evacuated.
While the authorities said the fire was ignited by the people trying to scoop up fuel, the residents blamed economic hardship for the fatal scramble.
PREMIUM TIMES will bring you a detailed report about those who lost their lives and what their unforeseen deaths mean to their families.
READ ALSO: Inside Nigerian newspaper headlines today – Monday, 20 January
Horror in pictures
Here, we tell the story through horrid pictures taken of the incident. Many of the pictures taken are unsuitable for publication.
FRSC officer and volunteers evacuating the bodies into a truck [PHOTO CREDIT : Yakubu Mohammed ]
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