LAGOS, Nigeria -- A tanker truck exploded outside an industrial plant in rural southeastern Nigeria, killing dozens of people who had lined up for gas to cook their Christmas meals, the authorities announced Friday.
The explosion occurred Thursday afternoon in the city of Nnewi, in Anambra State, said Chuma Ibeabuchi, the local secretary of the Nigerian Red Cross Society. The fire sent plumes of acrid black smoke skyward, and it took more than three hours to extinguish.
Many bodies were charred beyond recognition, and dozens of survivors were hospitalized with severe burns. The government said that "tens of people" had been killed, although The Associated Press and Reuters, citing local observers, said as many as 100 may have died.
One survivor, Emeka Uju, said that "people just burned like animals." Another witness, Christopher Nwachukwu, told reporters that the blast may have been caused when employees started dispensing cooking gas from the truck without waiting for it to cool first.
"This is a bleak Christmas," he said.
President Muhammadu Buhari, through a spokesman, said he was "greatly shaken and shocked by such large-scale loss of human lives in a single industrial accident," which he said had devastated families "who were looking forward to a joyous Christmas celebration."
The statement added, "My heart and prayers go out to these grieving families at this difficult and painful moment."
Poor regulation and decrepit infrastructure have been blamed for a series of explosions by tanker trucks on Nigeria's roads. A deadly explosion two weeks ago, involving a gas tanker that fell off a bridge in central Lagos, the country's economic capital, snarled traffic for hours.
The Chicason Group, which owns the plant where the explosion occurred, produces vegetable oil, motor spare parts and other products. Company officials were not available to respond to questions.
Buhari extended his condolences over what he called "this unfortunate tragedy on Christmas Eve," adding that "my heart and prayers go out to these grieving families at this difficult and painful moment."
A Section on 12/26/2015