Forty-eight persons confirmed dead in the petrol tanker explosion in Niger State were on Sunday in the Agaie Local Government Area of Niger State, given a mass burial.

The incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday when the petrol tanker had a head-on collision with a truck loaded with travellers and cattle from Wudil in Kano State.

Abdullahi Baba-Arab, the Director General of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, in a statement, also confirmed that the mass burial in the local government was necessitated because the 48 persons were burnt beyond recognition.

Following further search and rescue operations, he explained that 18 more bodies were recovered from the 30 bodies earlier reported.

According to him, “Following further search and rescue operations, my agency discovered 18 more bodies which were also burnt to death and all the dead have been given a mass burial.”

Baba-Arab explained that the incident happened at about 12:30 am along Lapai-Agaie, 2km from the Dendo community in Agaie LGA, saying that over 50 cattle were burnt, and a crane truck and a pickup van were caught up in the inferno.