UPDATE: Nigeria fuel truck fire kills 23 – president

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday said 23 people were killed when a truck carrying petrol overturned and caught fire on a busy road in the centre of the country.

“The death of 23 people as confirmed by the Federal Road Safety Commission, represents another disturbing and saddening incident in the litany of tragedies that have befallen our country,” Buhari was quoted as saying in a statement.

Earlier

At least nine people, including several students, were killed when a truck carrying petrol overturned and caught fire on a busy road in central Nigeria on Wednesday.

The accident happened at Lokoja, the capital of Kogi state, after the truck’s brakes failed and its driver lost control.

“I counted nine charred bodies of the victims in the mortuary while several others had severe burns,” an AFP journalist at the scene said.

He said many vehicles, including a bus conveying students of the state polytechnic, were burnt in the inferno.

“The driver was coming from Okene and heading towards the northern part of the country when the brake of the truck failed on the Lokoja-Abuja highway,” he said.

He said the truck then skidded off the road and caught fire.

Local media said that up to 20 people, including students and passers-by, might have died in the fire.

The state’s governor Yahaya Bello said he sympathised with the victims.

“It is very sad to learn of the tragic loss of lives, many vehicles, property and other valuables in the petrol tanker fire,” Bello said in a statement.

He also offered his commiserations to the students of the polytechnic “over the death of some of their colleagues.”

Fuel truck accidents occur regularly on Nigeria’s ill-maintained roads.

In July, at least three people lost their lives after a fuel truck overturned and spilt its load in the southern Delta state.

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