A tragic tanker explosion in Mashegu Local Government Area of Niger State has claimed the lives of seven people, leaving one person injured.
The incident, which occurred around 6 p.m. on Tuesday in Karamin Rami village, resulted in the deaths of two men and five women.
Confirming the incident, the Director General of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), Abdullahi Baba Arah, stated that emergency response efforts were underway to assess the full impact of the explosion.
“The incident was a result of a tanker truck trying to manoeuvre its way due to bad roads without shoulder and falling. Its content (PMS) flew to a nearby stream where dry-season farmers were working on their rice fields.
“The tanker content came in contact with the farmers’ water pump that was pumping water and caught fire which went back to the tanker, and the explosion occurred. The inferno came back to the farmland through the already contaminated stream water and burnt some of the farmers and the whole rice field, including fruit vegetation.
“Seven lives were lost with one person injured. The names of the deaths are Rafiatu Sahabi, Ramlat Shehu, Rashida Abdullahi, Raliya Abdulrahaman, Zainab Ahmed, Zuwaira Idrisu, and Maryam A Nura. Maimuna Isah is the injured person. Meanwhile, the injured woman has been receiving treatment at Saho Rami Primary Health Care.”
