JOHN ADAMS, Minna
For the second time in six months, fuel tanker explosion has rocked the satellite town of Suleja, in Niger state killing at least three and injured about 20 people in .
Also about 19 vehicles and a number of houses were burnt as a result of the inferno.
The tanker explosion occurred on Friday night at Dikko-junction on the Abuja-Kaduna expressway when the driver of the fuel tried to negotiate a bend.
Confirming the incident to our Correspondent in Minna on Saturday the Director General of Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) Ahmed Inga said the accident occurred at about 10:30 p.m. on Friday night.
He said though 19 people have been taken to the hospital, several others are also believed to have sustained minor injuries.
He also confirmed that several vehicles and housed were burnt.
According to him “we received a report from our Suleja Desk Officer that there was a tanker explosion and many people were affected.
“We cannot give the actual number of people that lost their lives, we will confirm that during our assessment; but from the report of our Suleja Desk Officer, one person died in the incident.
“Many people were injured and several vehicles were completely burnt.”
Inga further stated that firefighters from the State and Federal Fire Fighters were able to bring the fire under control after about seven hours on Saturday morning.
Inga added that the corpses of the deceased whose identities could not be ascertained had been deposited in the morgue at Umaru Musa Hospital, Sabon Wuse, while those injured are receiving treatment at the same facility.
He disclose that, the agency’s officials from Minna would visit the scene of the incident to ascertain the cause of the explosion.
It could be recalled that a similar incident occurred in Maje town in Suleja February which claimed five lives and several other people injured.