The Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) has confirmed the deaths of seven people and the injury of one person following a tanker explosion at Karamin Rami village in Mashegu Local Government Area.
In a statement issued in Minna this Friday, NSEMA’s Director General, Alhaji Abdullahi Baba-Arah, said the incident occurred on March 4 at about 6:30 p.m. when a tanker truck, overturned and spilled its content—Premium Motor Spirit (PMS)—into a nearby stream while attempting to navigate a bad road with no extra space for maneuvring.
Baba-Arah said the PMS came into contact with a water pump used by dry-season farmers on their rice fields, triggering a fire that spread back to the tanker and caused an explosion.
This resulted in an inferno that extended to farmlands through the contaminated stream water, burning some farmers and destroying rice fields, fruit crops, and vegetation.
The deceased victims were identified as Rafiatu Sahabi, Ramlat Shehu, Rashida Abdullahi Raliya, Abdulrahman, Zainab Ahmed, Zuwaira Idrisu, and Maryam Nura.
Baba-Arah also confirmed that the injured victim, Maimuna Isah, is currently receiving treatment at the Saho Rami Primary Health Care Centre.