At least eight people were killed in Nigeria when a petrol tanker veered off the road, caught fire and exploded as people tried to recover fuel, the emergency services said on Saturday. The vehicle crashed in the Odukpani area of the southeastern state of Cross River, just north of the state capital, Calabar, at about 5:00 pm (1600 GMT) on Friday.
Local residents rushed to collect the leaking fuel before it caught fire, triggering the tanker blast.
The sector commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps in Cross River, Chidiebere Benjamin Nkwonta, said: "We met eight charred bodies on arrival at the scene
"Fifteen other people were severely burnt and in a life-threatening situation. They were taken to the hospital before we got there.
"I was also informed that out of the 15, some of them later died but I do not have the exact figures of the number that died."
Nkwonta, however, dismissed local reports that up to 60 people were killed as "grossly over-exaggerated".
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