| schema:articleBody
| - Twelve people were killed and dozens of houses burnt when a fuel tanker overturned, spilled its contents and caught fire in central Nigeria, the emergency services said Monday. The accident, which occurred on Sunday in the Agatu area of Benue state, is the latest to hit the oil-rich West African nation in recent months. "Twelve bodies were recovered from the scene of the carnage yesterday, while over 50 houses and shops were burnt," said Emmanuel Shior, the executive secretary of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA). He said many people were also injured following the fire from the crashed tanker, fearing that the death toll might rise. "Our operatives are still combing the area to determine if more bodies could be recovered from the burnt buildings," Shior told AFP. He said the tanker had lost control before overturning and catching fire, which spread and engulfed houses and shops in the area. "The emergency services quickly mobilised to the scene and put out the fire. Everything is calm now," he added. Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) official Yakubu Mohammed confirmed the death toll, saying "the number of deaths as a result of the explosion is 12." He said more corpses could be found from the debris of the burnt buildings. Sule Adoyi, chairman of Agatu local government area, said apart from the 12 dead, three people were hospitalised while over 20 motorcycles, cars and 72 houses were burnt. "At the moment, we have buried eight of the victims," he added. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari sympathised with the victims' relatives and called on officials to take action to stop such accidents in the future. "I am worried by the frequency of these tanker explosion incidents on public roads or residential areas," Buhari said in a statement. "Our road traffic authorities and transportation ministries should urgently address this," he said, adding that tanker drivers should always comply with safety guidelines on the roads. Fuel accidents are frequent in Nigeria when residents try to siphon off oil or petrol from pipelines or when tanker drivers crash on poorly maintained roads. Most Nigerians live in poverty even though the country is Africa's biggest oil producer, putting out around two million barrels per day. In January, a tanker explosion in the southern city of Agbor claimed four lives and injured 11. In October last year, a tanker exploded and caused a fire in Lagos, Nigeria's biggest city, killing five people, wounding eight and damaging more than 100 homes and businesses. joa/mjs
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)