The Rivers State government has given a mass burial for most of Thursday’s oil tanker explosion victims, a Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) official said.
The State sector commander for the commission, Kayode Olagunju told reporters in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital that 89 of the 95 persons who died in the petrol tanker explosion were given a mass burial at Okobe village in the Ahoada West Local Government Area of the State.
Mr Olagunju said six of the victims who died were identified and released to their respective families.
He said in all, 95 persons died in the incident with 18 others injured.
Police sources had earlier said that more than 100 persons were feared to be burnt to death, while many were injured while scooping fuel from a fallen tanker in the early hours of Thursday.
Stealing fuel from oil pipeline or taking oil from broken-down oil tanker truck is very common in Nigeria.
The past few years have witnessed a string of pipeline explosions, with each killing at least dozens of people.
Nearly 300 people were burnt to death in Lagos on 26 December 2006, as they scooped fuel from a vandalized pipeline.
