Thirty-seven people were burnt to death in southeast Nigeria after a petrol tanker lost control, rammed into a busy bus station and burst into flames, police said on Monday. “The lorry lost control and ran into a motor park (bus station) near a roundabout in Onitsha,” the commercial capital of Anambra State, area police spokesman Uchenna Ezeh said of the crash on Sunday. “It burst into flames and 37 people lost their lives in the inferno while seven others were injured,” he told AFP.
It was not immediately clear what caused the lorry’s driver to lose control but Ezeh said there was no sign of foul play. Roughly a dozen buses and several motorcycles were also destroyed by the fire, he added. Such accidents are common in Nigeria, where many major roads are riddled with potholes and lorries are often ageing and poorly maintained. Drivers frequently face pressure from superiors to take few breaks on long-haul journeys, meaning people driving petrol-laden trucks are sometimes short on sleep.