Hopes of Dikko town residents in Niger State to welcome a large number of tanker explosion victims on admission back to their fold has been dashed after 12 additional patients were pronounced dead by medical experts, increasing the death toll to 98.
It added that the death toll has reduced the number of injured victims with 69 people confirmed to have sustained varying degrees of burns during the explosion in the state.
Aside from the injured victims, the director general of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), Abdullahi Baba-Arah, disclosed this on Monday barely two days after the explosion, added that 20 shops were razed in the state.
Baba-Arah also said that
The tanker explosion occurred on Saturday morning at about 9:00 a.m. along the Dikko-Maje road opposite Baddegi fuelling station in Gurara Local Government Area.
The incident occurred when a tanker loaded with premium motor spirit (PMS) crashed, and an attempt was made to transfer its contents to another tanker.
In the process, the PMS came into contact with a generator used to power the transfer process, triggering an explosion that claimed many, injured many, and destroyed properties worth millions of naira.
The incident had sparked widespread condemnation and sympathy from various quarters.
The Niger and federal governments had commiserated with the families of the victims and promised to provide support to those affected.
The state government had also called on the federal government to expedite action on the Minna-Suleja road project, which had been blamed for the frequent accidents in the area.