Trailer in Nigeria crashes into vehicles and bursts into flame, killing at least 6 people

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — At least six people died near Nigeria’s capital Abuja after a trailer crashed into halted vehicles and burst into flames, police said Wednesday.

The accident happened on a busy highway near the Nyanya Bridge in Ayo, around 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the city center, after the trailer, laden with cement, lost control and rammed into 14 vehicles that were stuck in traffic, the Federal Capital Territory Police Command said in a statement.

The city’s Emergency Management Department said preliminary reports indicate that the trailer was powered by Compressed Natural Gas (CNG).

“The impact engulfed 14 vehicles in a raging inferno,” the statement read. “Panic and chaos followed as bystanders and motorists scrambled for safety.”

The police said six victims were pulled from the wreckage and rushed to the hospital, but were confirmed dead.

With the absence of an efficient railway system to transport cargo, fatal truck accidents are common along most major roads in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country.

In January, 98 people were killed in a gasoline tanker blast in north-central Nigeria, near the Suleja area of Niger state, after individuals attempted to transfer gasoline from a crashed oil tanker into another truck using a generator. Some bystanders were at the scene to scoop gasoline.