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Fuel explosion kills nine in Lagos

Cars on fire
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An oil tanker truck caught fire in Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos killing nine people. The accident happened on a motorway that connects Lagos and the city of Ibadan.

More than 50 vehicles and five buses were set ablaze. This after a truck lost control and spilled its contents on a busy motorway during rush hour.

The tanker is said to have crashed after its brakes failed.

“As we were going, the trailer went erratic, as it went too erratic then the back fell down. As it fell down, I was shouting, everybody calm down, we started running, we were running. Most of the people come here, they didn’t cross to the other side… all my people they crossed to the other side.”

“My passenger escaped… I (am) still shocked,” says one of the drivers.

“They should stop, all these tankers, they should stop them working in the morning, afternoon. We need them to be working at night,” says another driver.

Fuel explosions are common in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer.

Petrol is transported via badly maintained roads and vehicles.

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