In Nigeria, at least 48 people were killed after a gasoline-laden tanker exploded on a busy highway in Niger. The head of the State Emergency Management Agency told reporters that the ill-fated tanker had a head-on collision with an oncoming truck carrying cattle along the Bida-Agaie-Lapai highway which caused the explosion.

Two other vehicles were caught up in the inferno killing up to 48 people. A search operation was underway to recover bodies of more victims believed to have been trapped in the exploded vehicles.