By Newsmata
Yet another petrol tanker has exploded in Niger State, killing seven people and destroying farmlands.
The explosion occurred around 6:30 pm at Karamin Rami village of Mashegu Local Government Area of the state, on Tuesday.
The Director General of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, Abdullahi Baba-Arah, who confirmed the tragic incident on Friday, identified the victims as Rafiatu Sahabi, Ramlat Shehu, Rashida Abdullahi, Raliya Abdulrahaman, Zainab Ahmed, Zuwaira Idrisu and Maryam A Nura.
The accident reportedly happened when the truck was trying to meander through a bad portion of the road resulting in the tanker falling and spilling its content on the road, flowing to a nearby stream where farmers were working on their rice fields.
The petroleum product was said to have mixed with the farmers’ water pump and caught fire immediately, resulting in the tanker’s explosion.
The fire spread to the farmland through the already contaminated water and burnt some of the farmers and the whole rice field, including fruit vegetation.