•How parents who came to warn wards of danger got consume
•Ninety percent of victims were under-25
•Late evening fever saved my life, teenager recounts
The dusts are yet to settle, smoke yet to disappear and tears yet to dry up, as families, households and friends rue the tragedy that befell Majiya Town in Taura Local Government of Jigawa State, where a petrol tanker explosion abruptly cut short the lives of nearly 200 Nigerians late into the night of October 15 (2024), throwing the entire nation into mourning. Literally, no family or household was spared. Our Jigawa correspondent, Ahmed Rufa’I, who visited the village, captured the mood of the parents, families and friends of victims in what can only be described as a plethora of sad stories.
The accident happened right before our very eyes, right opposite us. It was around 22:50 and we were seated by the roadside at Adam Science Tahfizul Quran College gate. Suddenly, a truck loaded with fuel emerged; it was heading in the eastern direction; in a bid to avoid a pothole on its way, the truck driver shifted to his right; however, an omnibus loaded with tomatoes suddenly appeared in the opposite direction. In an attempt to avoid a head-to-head collision, the truck driver tried to swerve back; unfortunately, the range was too close and the turning, too sharp. This caused the tank to be detached from the body of the truck and fall off. In no time, the petrol content started emptying into the drainage by the side of the road. Before we knew it, people, mostly young men, started coming out with various containers, metal buckets, plastic buckets and bowls to scoop the fuel. Apparently, they must have been thinking of how much they would make, even if they had to sell at giveaway prices, considering the current liter rate, and had no time thinking about any danger of their action.
“For some time, everything was okay and they were all just scooping. Suddenly, there was an explosion and everywhere went aflame, trapping everyone involved and everyone within the vicinity. Those who could, started running, fire all over their body; while some others were deep in the fire and really had nowhere to run to. I can’t exactly say what caused the fire, but it was when they started scooping the fuel from the ground that the fire was ignited. At the last count, the fire has resulted in the death of 182 persons, with many still battling various degrees of burns and battling for their lives in various hospitals.”
The above were words of Malam Adamu Lawan Majia, an eyewitness to the Jigawa tanker fire horror that occurred last Tuesday, October 15, sending 182 to their graves. Adamu, who had siblings and relatives in the accident, told The Nation amidst deep sorrow and sobbing that it is one incident the community, Majiya town, in Taura Local Government Area of Jigawa State and environs will never forget.
“It is one experience that will remain forever in our memories and in the history of this village. We will never forget this tragic day. May God Almighty grant the dead Aljantul Firddaus, and quick and full recovery to the injured,” Adamu finished off, his voice heavy and laden with emotions.
Jibiru Abdullahi, another resident of Majiya village and eye-witness corroborated Adamu’s story, albeit with a rather pathetic slant.
“The truck was trying to avoid collision with an omnibus coming from the opposite direction, but due to the heavy load of fuel it was carrying, the tank detached from the main body and fell sideways. The two compartments of the tank broke out and the PMS stated gushing out and pouring into the main drainage. Within minutes, people started scooping the fuel. The fire started around 24:00 hours that Tuesday night (October 15), it started from the culvert where people were scooping the fuel. Almost all the people that where there burned down to death. Virtually all the people confirmed dead are youths, largely below the age of 25. The adults who were caught in the fire only went there to warn their wards of the danger in the risk they were taking or to chase them away, when the explosion happened.”
Jibiru continued: “This is not the first incident of truck accident in this town; even last year, a truck fully loaded with foodstuffs fell and nobody cared to take a single commodity from it. So to me, it is just an accident destined to happen. Almost 90 per cent of them were youths, aged 16, 17 to 25 years. There is no single household that has not lost at least a person, either a house member or a relative.”
Saved by fever
Similarly, 21-year-old Usman Rabiú Majiya, who lost a brother, cousins, and seven friends, who were all classmates at Majiya Senior Secondary School with whom he wrote the 2023 SSCE examinations, narrated his story.
“I was together with some of the victims that evening at the community’s football field. Nura and I did not play, but Najib Sani and Kamalu played. We left together and all parted to our houses to shower and go for the evening prayer. Unfortunately, that turned out to be the last time I would see them alive.”
But for providence, Usman himself might have been one of the victims. He was saved by a fever, which caused him to over-sleep.
“I actually had fever, possibly malaria, which sort of knocked me down; so I took some antimalarial tablets and lied down and I slept. It was one of my younger brothers who came to wake me amidst the pandemonium. I came out to behold huge flame all over the sky. Fear and panic gripped me at the same time. I ran in the direction of the flame and when I got there, all I could see was fire everywhere, with people burning and screaming helplessly.”
Another member of the community, Adamu Ibrahim, in tears, narrated that he lost two of his uncles and 12 schoolmates, eight of which were his classmates.
“You know our senior secondary school here is a day-school. All those that died were male, and majority of them were aged 15 and above,” he said.
Similarly, Manniru Haruna, an SS II student of Government Day Senior Secondary School, Majiya, said: “I watched helplessly as many of my schoolmates including three of my classmates burned to ashes.”
Manniru told The Nation that he was not more than 40 meters away when the first explosion occurred, followed by the second one from the petrol tanker.
Lives in the balance; power outages worsens hospital conditions
Read Also: Jigawa: Gov. Namadi approves payment of N70,000 minimum wage
Aside the nearly two hundred who have lost their lives in the inferno, many, nearing another one hundred, who survived with various degrees of burns, are in various hospitals in Jigawa, Kano and environs, receiving treatment and hoping to recover and join their families.
One of them, Uzairu Musa Mainama, a butcher, currently recuperating on his sickbed at Rasheed Shekoni Teaching Hospital, Dutse, the Jigawa State capital, managed to narrate how he became victim of the tanker explosion.
“I was at home when I heard people screaming and shouts for help. I came out and someone told me it was an accident involving a petrol tanker. On hearing that, I stopped and told myself ‘this is dangerous’; so I went back inside my house. But destiny, like they say, is unavoidable. I don’t know how I came out again thinking that there would be people involved who may need to be rescued or helped.”
“I got there three minutes later and suddenly, there was a loud explosion. All I can remember is that I was pushed away by the fire. I quickly got up and removed my burning shirt. I took my self to the clinic. There and then, we were more than 100 with various degrees of burns. From there, I was transferred to General Hospital Hadejia, and later here, Rasheed Shekoni Teaching Hospital Dutse.”
Our reporter in the state gathered that there were more than 75 survivors receiving treatment at the Intensive Care Units (I C.U), although he could not gain access to them, since only medical personnel on duty and some personnel on special duties had right of entry.
At Ringim General Hospital and Rasheed Shekoni Federal Teaching Hospital in Dutse, some patients, the reporter gathered, were responding to treatment while some, owing to their degrees of injuries, were said to be on danger list, their lives, hanging in the balance.
The situation at Ringim General Hospital was a cause for concern, as there was power outage, and the seriously burnt patients were left to battle the humidity of the heat. Some patients’ relatives were however on ground to fan them, using handmade fans.
Another patient was sighted on the bare floor of the verandah at back of the Accident and Emergency unit, probably to get fresh air. This reporter noted that he was in serious pain.
Jigawa State governor, Umar Namadi yesterday said 181 people have been confirmed dead, following the October 15 tanker explosion in his state.
According to him 80 people are still hospitalised, while 210 families were affected.
Namadi gave these figures to State House reporters after meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The governor said he was at the State House to welcome the president back from his annual leave and to brief him on the sad development.
“I felt it is important to come and brief the president on what we are doing as government and also thank him for sending a delegation immediately the incident happened.
He said the state government had paid the medical bills of all the people hospitalised and carried out a lot of interventions to bring succour to the affected families.