At least 35 killed in Niger fuel tanker explosion

Wednesday, October 22, 2025 - No fewer than 35 people report­edly lost their lives while about 40 others sustained varying degrees of injuries in a tragic tanker ex­plosion that occurred along the Essa axis of the Agaie–Bida Road in Katcha Local Government Area of Niger State while scoop­ing petroleum product.

The accident which occurred about 11a.m, according to eye wit­ness account, involved a tanker with petroleum product from La­gos and heading to the northern part of the country.

While trying to navigate through a very bad portion of the road, the tanker according to the local sources lost its bal­ance and fell off the road spill­ing the content in the process.

The inferno which burnt the victims beyond recognition also has several others with life threatening injuries and rushed to nearby hospitals for treatment.

The Chairman, Niger State Tanker Drivers Associ­ation and Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) National Ex-Officio, Comrade Farouk Mohammed Kawo, who con­firmed the accident said the tanker was coming from La­gos and heading to one of the northern states with the petro­leum product.

Comrade Farouk, who blamed the accident to de­plorable condition of the road which he described as more of death trap, lamented that so far, over 30 tankers conveying pe­troleum products to northern states from Lagos had been in­volved in accidents within this month of October alone.

Whenever such accidents occur, youths from the com­munities will rush and start scooping oil from the vehicles, and similar incident, he said, happened last Sunday when a tanker carrying groundnut oil fell and before help could come for the owner its product were emptied by same youths in the locality.

He appealed to Governor Mohammed Umar Bago led administration to as a mat­ter of urgency come to their aid by grading the particular portion of the road to not only ease their movements but stop further loss of lives and prop­erties.

Sector Commander, Feder­al Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Niger State, Aishat Sa’ad, who also confirmed the incident said 35 lives were lost and that their remains were deposited at a hospital in Bida.