Nigeria: Tanker Explodes, Kills Welder

By Adam Umar

A welder, identified as Kabir Usman (28) lost his life on Friday after a tanker truck he was repairing exploded while he was inside its compartment. Abuja Metro reports that the incident took place in Tafa town, located off the Abuja-Kaduna expressway, in Kagarko LGA of Kaduna State.

A resident of Tafa, Ahmad Bunkau, who spoke about the incident with Abuja Metro, said "I was sitting inside a nearby mosque in preparation for a Juma'at prayer congregation when I heard a loud explosion some minutes after 12 pm on Friday. On getting out, I saw a flame blowing into the sky, accompanied by explosions in succession, for about half an hour, before the fire was finally put out by the volunteers."

A police source in the area disclosed that efforts to invite firefighters from Sabon-Wuse town in the neighboring Tafa LGA in Niger State were unsuccessful. According to him, the officials on duty insisted that they could not move to a scene that fell within Kagarko LGA in Kaduna State.

A police official from the Tafa division, which shares a fence with the welding workshop, said the situation led to commotion among his colleagues, adding that many police officials fled in confusion, mistaking the explosion for a bomb attack.

It was further learned that the policemen were later led to the scene by their Divisional Police Officer (DPO), SP Ibrahim Idris, to assist in putting out the fire along with other volunteers. Afterward, they deposited the remains of the deceased at the Umaru Musa Yar'Adua Memorial Hospital in Sabon-Wuse, he added.

Officials of the Firs Service office at Sabo-Wuse declined to speak on the incident.

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