Tanker crash, fire leaves 15 dead in Lagos
Nigerian policemen inspecting the site where a fuel tanker overtuned in Nigeria’s financial hub Lagos and burst into flames in the Apapa district of Lagos on January 8, 2014. Fifteen people were killed in the explosion, a rescue agency said. PHOTO | AFP
What you need to know:
- Four houses, four buses and more than 60 shops were destroyed by the fire
- The the death toll is 15
LAGOS
Fifteen people were killed in Nigeria’s financial hub Lagos when a tanker loaded with fuel overturned and burst into flames, a rescue agency said.
National Emergency Management Agency spokesman Ibrahim Farinloye initially said that nine people had died in the accident.
“The fire service have since picked up six more bodies,” he later added, taking the death toll to 15.
Four houses, four buses and more than 60 shops were destroyed by the fire, which was later extinguished, Farinloye added.
The accident happened on the Apapa-Oshodi expressway, which links the city’s international airport with the seaport, causing long delays to traffic on the route, which is one of the city’s busiest.
The head of Lagos fire service, Rasaq Fadipe, said in an interview on Channels television that the driver of the lorry was among the dead. Several people were also injured, he added.
