12 killed, 50 houses burnt as fuel tanker crashes in Benue
Not less than 50 houses were burnt and about seven persons killed in a fire that erupted after a tanker conveying fuel crashed in Benue state.
The Humanitarian Times gathered that the incident happened in Oshigbudu village in Agatu Local Government Area of Benue state.
Witnesses said the petrol tanker lost control while negotiating the Oshigbudu-Obagaji junction where it grll and spilled its contents.
A fire erupted that affected 12 persons, comprising nine males, among them a little boy and three females.
The Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Benue State, Yakubu Mohammed, told reporters that “the tanker lost control”.
Nigeria has 5000km of pipeline network, 30 PMS and LPG depots yet transport fuel by road
“Sadly, a fire incident erupted after the crash, and twelve people died instantly,” he said.
In Nigeria, the conventional means of transporting petrol and gas is by use of reticulated trucks that have to travel hundreds of miles from southern Nigeria to the North. Most of these reticulated trucks, mostly brought into Nigeria as used or second-hand vehicle would be subjected to long-distance travels hauling between 33k litres to 45k litres of flammable gas. Apart from constituting damage to poorly constructed roads, the tankers subject the lives of people to danger due to road accidents as a result of technical glitches or by a fatigued driver who may have dozed off.
Nigeria, an oil producing state have over the past two decades proved incapable of refining its crude and pumping them via already laid pipes that crisscrossed the entire country to designated depots.
Nigeria has 5000 km of pipeline network, 21 PMS depots and nine liquified Petroleum Gas depots across the country. Sadly, most of these assets are not functional.
