At least three people have been confirmed dead on Monday after a tanker conveying petroleum product burst into flames in Amoke village of Apa Local Government Area in Benue State.
The village where the incident happened in Apa shares a boundary with Agatu council area where two similar incidents occurred two days apart in April.
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Our correspondent reports that 12 people were killed in the April incident while many houses were razed by the inferno caused by the tanker explosion.
Villagers said the incident happened at 7:15 am at the Amoke community close to Ugbokpo, the headquarters of Apa LGA.
The villagers said that the explosion caused panic among residents of the area along the road notable for several sharp bends.
But, Sector Corps Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) In the state, Yakubu Mohammed, who confirmed three people dead following the tanker fire blamed the incident on break failure.
Mohammed said there were no injured persons as a result of the incident which he said happened early on Monday.
The FRSC commander however said the fire was eventually put out after long hours, stressing that it took effort to do so because there was no Fire Service stationed closely to the scene of incident.