Nando Times

Dozens killed in Nigerian oil tanker explosion

The Associated Press

LAGOS, Nigeria (November 6, 2000 4:24 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - At least 96 people were killed when an oil tanker slammed into a line of parked vehicles in southwestern Nigeria and burst into flames.

"I have never in my life seen an accident like this," Osun state Governor Bisi Akande said Monday at the scene of the weekend explosion.

Local journalists reported that 96 bodies were recovered from the scene. More than 50 people were treated for serious burns at two hospitals.

Witnesses and police said the tanker's brakes failed Saturday as it approached a line of cars passing through a police checkpoint ahead of a toll bridge on a highway linking the southwestern towns of Ife and Ibadan. The tanker slammed into the cars spilling fuel, which ignited on impact.

Akande visited the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital, where he met with some of the victims and family members who had come to identify the dead.

The blaze, which engulfed everything within a 500-yard radius, consumed at least 15 cars. The dead included several roadside vendors.

Accidents involving fuel tankers are common in this West African country, where roads are poor and many vehicle owners circumvent the required road-worthiness inspections.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), November 06, 2000