No fewer than 60 people have been recovered from the scene of the tanker explosion at Dikko junction along Abuja /Kaduna expressway, Gurara local government area of Niger State, while injuring several others.

The Niger State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Kumar Tsukwam, who revealed the number in an update yesterday afternoon, informed newsmen that the tanker, with the number plate: KBG-103-XAX, belonged to a company, HMY Oil and Gas, and was driven by one Mohammed Modu.
According to him, the tanker had loaded 60,000 litres of petrol from Lagos, and was billed to deliver the product at Gwagwalada, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), when the body detached from the head, leading to the fall of the vehicle.
Tsukwam said the victims were mostly scavengers who gathered to scoop fuel despite efforts to stop them, adding that the fire extended to another tanker.
However, the State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) Director-General, Abdullahi Baba Arah said the explosion was caused by a generator being used to transfer the fuel from the fallen tanker to another tanker.
According to the NSEMA DG, the incident occurred around 9am, along the Dikko-Maje road opposite Badegi fuelling station.
He said: “The incident occurred when a tanker loaded with PMS crashed; and an attempt was made by the drivers to transfer its contents to a second tanker. In the process, the spilling PMS came in contact with a generator that was used to power the transfer process, triggering an explosion of flames, which has caused over 50 deaths, injured many and destroyed properties estimated in millions”.
Arah said that the agency was working in collaboration with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Suleja local government area Emergency Committee and volunteers to carry out search, rescue and recovery operations, in order to rescue the injured who have been moved to hospital for treatment and recover corpses.