BFF-28 Tanker truck blast kills 55 in Niger: ministry

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Tanker truck blast kills 55 in Niger: ministry

NIAMEY, May 6, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Fifty-five people died in Niger’s capital
Niamey overnight when an overturned tanker truck exploded as crowds tried to
collect spilt fuel, authorities and witnesses said Monday.

The blast on the RN1 route near Niamey’s international airport left the
burnt truck’s wreckage, motorbikes and debris scattered over the road. Nearby
houses were also damaged by fire.

The toll from the explosion was 55 dead and 36 injured, an interior
ministry spokesman said.

“Motorbike riders and people were all around the truck when it exploded all
of a sudden,” a local trader said. “I saw at least 40 dead.”

Witnesses said people were trying to collect petrol leaking from the truck,
which had overturned on railway tracks, when the explosion happened.

“It just before midnight when I went out and I saw the truck overturned.
People came from everywhere to take gas, then I saw fire on its side and
everything burst into flames,” a college student told AFP.

Niger, a poor West African country, has been trying to stamp out fuel
smuggling from neighbouring Nigeria.

Nigeria, a major oil producer, has seen similar deadly accidents and
explosions in the past when people try to steal fuel from oil pipelines.

BSS/AFP/SSS/1754 hrs