A truck carrying people and livestock collides head-on with a tanker in the Agaie area of north-central Niger state.
A tanker truck collided with another truck in Nigeria, causing an explosion that killed at least 48 people, according to the country's emergency response agency.
The tanker was also transporting cattle in the Agaie area of north-central Niger state, and at least 50 of them were burned alive, Abdullahi Baba-Arab, director general of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, said on Sunday.
Search and rescue operations were underway at the scene of the accident, he added.
Baba-Arab initially said 30 bodies had been found, but in a later statement said there were another 18 bodies of victims who were burned to death in the collision. He added that the dead had been buried en masse.
It was not initially clear how many more were injured.
Niger state governor Mohammed Bago said residents in the affected area should remain calm and called on road users to “always be cautious and respect traffic rules to safeguard lives and property.”
Due to the absence of an efficient rail system to transport freight, fatal truck accidents are common on most major roads in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country with more than 220 million residents.
According to experts, the main causes are reckless driving, poor road conditions and poor vehicle maintenance.
In 2020 alone, there were 1,531 tanker accidents resulting in 535 deaths and 1,142 injuries, according to Nigeria's Federal Road Safety Corps.
Last week, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Ltd. raised the price of gasoline by at least 39 percent, the second major increase in more than a year. But shortages have continued, forcing motorists to queue for hours in major cities and towns across the country.
