Osamagbe Imadiyi
The petrol tanker explosion at Dikko Junction near Suleja in Niger State has claimed 86 lives, while 55 others were injured and are undergoing hospital treatment. At the time of the incident on Saturday, there were 70 confirmed dead and 50 injured. Since then, more bodies have been found and interred in Dikko in a mass burial.
On Saturday morning, a fuel tanker traveling at high speed collided in Dikko Junction, which is situated between the states of Kaduna and Niger. All of the residents trying to scoop the fuel and those attempting to rescue them were killed when the tanker exploded with a heavy flame while it was scooping the fuel that had spilled on the tarred road.
The mass burial was carried out between 5 p.m. and 12 a.m. by the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, Gurara Local Government Area authorities, and generous volunteers, according to a statement released by the agency’s director general, Abdullahi Baba-Arah, on Sunday.
“86 people have been officially declared dead, and their bodies have been found and interred. Of them, 80 are buried in mass graves on the grounds of Dikko PHC, five were taken by family members to be buried in the town, and one passed away there.
“The mass burial was conducted between 5 p.m. and 12 a.m. by NSEMA in cooperation with Gurara LGA and incredibly courageous and generous volunteers. “At Dikko PHC, there are currently 55 injured people and one fatality,” Baba-Arah said.
President Bola Tinubu responded to the incident with a statement signed by Bayo Onanuga, his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, expressing his profound sadness. The President sent his condolences to the families of the victims, the Niger State government, and the people of Niger State.
Tinubu also ordered security and road safety officials to put policies in place to prevent such incidents and directed the appropriate agencies to offer the injured complete medical care.
Mohammed Idris, Minister of Information and National Orientation, stated that in order to guarantee timely and improved medical care, the Federal Government ordered the immediate transfer of victims of the recent tanker explosion from Suleja General Hospital to tertiary health facilities.
In a statement, former President Muhammadu Buhari’s media assistant, Garba Shehu, offered condolences. Despite the authorities’ warnings and the tragic death toll that had been typical of such incidents, he expressed disappointment that the practice of scooping up fuel was becoming widespread.
The former president expressed sympathy to the Niger State government and people and wished the injured a quick recovery. In a statement, Vice President Kashim Shettima expressed his condolences to the victims’ families and reassured them of the Federal Government’s resolve to stop similar incidents in the future. Stanley Nkwocha was his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communication.
