Petrol tanker truck burns in Nigeria after deadly blast

A petrol tanker exploded in central Nigeria on Saturday, killing at least 86 people who were attempting to collect fuel, emergency services reported.

. Kumar Tsukwam, Head of Road Safety Corp said "The tanker drives, there is what is called latched controlarised flatbed cargo. The tanker is supposed to be latched. I think I found out that the tanker carrying the fuel was not properly latched, so when it got into a small pot, it fell over, and when it fell off, scavengers started scooping fuel. Another tanker came to see if it could trans-load the fuel. I think that is what led to the large casualties we have recorded."

The truck, which was carrying 60,000 litres of gasoline, flipped over on the road linking Abuja to Kaduna. The explosion occurred at the Dikko junction, authorities confirmed.