# Fuel tanker blast in Nigeria kills more than 150 in Jigawa State
*Event date: 2024-10-16*
More than 150 people were killed when an overturned fuel tanker exploded in Jigawa state in northwestern Nigeria on 2024-10-16, according to authorities cited by Al Jazeera.
The tanker crash happened on a highway in the town of Majia after the vehicle veered to avoid colliding with another truck. Police said residents then rushed to the overturned tanker to collect fuel. As they did so, the vehicle exploded, triggering a fire that spread across the area and burned into the early hours of the next day.
Officials initially said the death toll was at least 94, but later updates put the figure at 153 as mass funerals were being held. Dozens more people were wounded and taken to hospitals in Ringim and Hadejia. The report said police and emergency workers treated at least 50 injured people, and authorities feared the number of dead could rise further.
The scale of the disaster was made worse by a familiar pattern. Fuel tanker explosions in Nigeria often become mass-casualty events when nearby residents gather at accident scenes to scoop up spilled fuel. The report said this incident followed that pattern. It also noted that dangerous road conditions, reckless driving and poorly maintained vehicles contribute to deadly truck crashes across the country.
The vice president called for a safety review and said the federal government was sending resources to assist the affected areas. The Nigerian Medical Association urged doctors to help in emergency rooms, and lawmakers observed a minute's silence in the Senate. Those reactions reflected both the size of the loss and the public shock at how quickly a road accident turned into a disaster.
The report also placed the episode in a broader economic setting. Fuel has become more valuable as Nigeria faces a severe cost-of-living crisis, and the national oil company had recently raised petrol prices by more than a third. That context helps explain why people might rush toward an overturned tanker even though the risk is obvious and often deadly.
By the time of the report, the immediate facts were stark: a tanker overturned, fuel was being recovered from the scene, and an explosion killed and injured large numbers of people in a part of Nigeria already accustomed to risky transport conditions. What remained uncertain was whether the final death toll would rise again once hospitals and rescue workers had finished accounting for the victims.
Source notes
This article is based on Al Jazeera's reporting on the Jigawa tanker explosion and the later death-toll update.
