More than 70 people burned to death in northern Nigeria when a tanker lorry caught fire as they were stealing fuel from it, police said Wednesday. At least 100 other victims are being treated for burns, another official said. The accident happened on Monday evening in Kaduna state, Kaduna's police spokesman Saad Yahaya said, adding that "more than 70 people have been confirmed dead."
"One hundred and one survivors, mostly youths, are being treated .. for varying degrees of burns," Aliyu Saleh Raminkura, the executive secretary of the state's emergency management agency told AFP. "The tanker turned over, the villagers came to scoop fuel and then the tanker caught fire", he explained.
Yahaya said the tanker overturned while trying to park in the village of Katugal, some 150 kilometres (90 miles) south of the state capital Kaduna. It was not immediately clear if the impact of the accident caused fuel to leak from the tanker or whether the vehicle was vandalised.