Gas tanker explosion kills more than 140 people and injures dozens more in Nigeria

Associated Press

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — More than 140 people, including children, are dead in Nigeria after an overturned gasoline tanker truck exploded in flames while they tried to scoop up fuel. Dozens more were injured. Deadly tanker accidents are common in Africa’s most populous country, which lacks an efficient railway system to transport cargo. People often salvage fuel with cups and buckets — especially because of soaring fuel prices, which have tripled since the government ended costly gas subsidies last year. Emergency services say most of the bodies in this latest accident were unrecognizable. One resident says the fire spread so quickly that many people couldn’t escape.