Three ‘Almajirai’ children, whose names were yet to be identified alongside eight others were burnt to death after a petrol tanker exploded in Gawu community in Abaji Area Council, Abuja.

Gawu community, shares boundary with new-Gawu in Suleja, Niger state.

Among those that also lost their lives in the explosion were a house wife, Halima Mohammed Yusuf, chairman of the vigilante of Gawu, Adamu Ibrahim, Dantala Usman, Umar Aliyu, Mohammed Hamza, Hassan Usman, Gambo Hamisu and Sani Abdulmutalib.

A resident of the community, Usman Yakubu, said the incident happened around 11:23 am when a petrol laden tanker was trying to avoid a head-on collision with a ‘Dangote’ trailer.

He said “the tanker was coming from Lapai axis heading to Izom, after dodging a pothole, which he suddenly veered off the road and crashed, spilling the content on by the road side.”

According to him, “some natives of the community after noticing the petrol was pouring out of the fallen tanker rushed to the scene with buckets and jerry-cans to scoop fuel.

“It was while scooping the fuel from the fallen tanker, when it suddenly exploded and killed three Almajiri boys and eight others including a woman who came to the scene to chase the boys away from the scene,” he said.

The Chief of Gawu, Alhaji Yusuf Ibrahim, while confirming the incident in a telephone interview with our reporter, said “it happened around 9am when some natives of the community went to scoop fuel from the fallen tanker.

He said, “unfortunately, we also lost one woman who went chase the boys away from the tanker explosion.”

The chief said the dead bodies have been buried according to Islamic rites.

The FCT sector commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) confirmed the incident via a telephone interview with our reporter.

He said “22 people were involved in the incident, while ten people were burnt to death and ten others, eight male adults and two female adults sustained various degrees of burns.”

He said the burnt victims were rescued by the unit command of the FRSC and taken to Federal Medical Centre at new Gawu in Niger state, even as he attributed the incident to over-speeding and loss of concentration.

The FRSC sector commander, said families of the burnt victims, who visited the scene after fire took the corpses for burial.

• Credit (except for headline): Daily Trust.