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7 students, 16 others die in Lokoja tanker explosion

...witness said he personally counted 18 corpses

Twenty three people, including staff and students of Kogi State Polytechnic as well as school children, have died in a tanker explosion which took place in the early hours of Wednesday around the Felele area of Lokoja metropolis.

The Kogi State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Idris Ali Fika who confirmed the accident in Lokoja said the school children comprised 10 male adults and six female adults.

Ali said that three of the children were females while the remaining four were burnt beyond recognition.

He said five of the dead victims were students and staff of the Kogi State Polytechnic located few metres away from the scene of the incident.

According to him, 24 people were involved in the accident which occurred some minutes before 8 a.m., and that only one female child survived with a minor injury.

The commander said that 10 vehicles, including five cars, three tricycles and two motorcycles were also burnt in the inferno.

He said that the corpses had been deposited at the Kogi State Specialist Hospital, Lokoja, where the only survivor was also receiving treatment.

He said that 11 corpses had been claimed for burial by their relations.

The incident has thrown some schools that lost their children in the accident into mourning as they hurriedly closed down.

One of them is the Baptist Group of Schools at Ganaja, which lost three pupils and their parents to the accident, and whose management immediately closed the school till Sept. 28 in honour of the deceased.

NAN gathered that the accident occurred when an Abuja bound fuel tanker had a brake failure and in the process fell down at a spot close to GT Plaza and spilled its content on the road, which immediately ignited fire.

The fire engulfed the entire spot and extended to other parts of the area, including a major  bus stop where school children , workers and other people were waiting to board vehicles to their various destinations.

Many vehicles, property and other valuables were also destroyed in the petrol tanker fire which happened around 8am, Dateline Nigeria learnt.

An eye witness, Ahmed Sai’du Bilal, told the BBC Hausa that he personally counted 18 corpses.

Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello, while expressing his deepest condolences to the family of those affected by the ugly occurrence, said “this is sadly the greatest tragedies the state has witnessed in recent times.”

The governor also urged the students of Kogi State Polytechnic to remain calm and peaceful, stating that he equally shared in their grieving moment over the death of some of their colleagues in the disaster.

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