Death toll in gasoline truck explosion in Nigeria rises to 86

The Director General of the State Emergency Management Agency, Alhaji Abdullahi Baba-Arach, has said that the death toll from a gas tanker explosion in Nigeria has risen to 86. This was reported by the Nigerian newspaper This Day on January 19.

Initially reported about 50 dead, after the number rose to 70 people, according to the data as of January 19 at 03:30 Moscow time.

According to Baba Arach, 75 of the dead were mass buried by a joint effort of the State Emergency Management Agency and volunteers. Five bodies were taken away by relatives.

The Emergency Agency director general added that 52 people suffered serious burns.

The explosion of a gasoline truck in Nigeria became known on January 18. Initially it was reported about 50 dead. According to the head of the Federal Road Safety Service (FRSC) of Niger State Kumar Tsukwama, people nearby began to collect fuel spilled from the tanker when the explosion occurred.