At least 34 people on Saturday died in Benin near Nigeria’s border when a contraband fuel depot exploded into flames, sending up a black cloud of smoke into the sky and leaving dozens of charred bodies at the site, a government official and residents said.
The blaze erupted at 9:30am at a warehouse for smuggled fuel in the southern town of Seme Podji, where cars, motorbikes and tricycle taxies came to stock up on fuel, locals said.
Nigeria is a major oil producer and fuel smuggling is common inside the country and along its borders, with illegal refineries, fuel dumps and pipelines sometimes causing fires.
Photo: AFP
“I am still in shock. We heard people screaming for help, but the intensity of the flames was too much for people to try to approach,” said Innocent Sidokpohou, a local carpenter. “I got gas for my motorbike to go do my shopping. I left and barely five meters away I heard an explosion. When I turned around it was all black smoke.”
Beninese Minister of the Interior Alassane Seidou told reporters that a serious fire had occurred in the town.
“Unfortunately we have 34 deaths including two babies. Their bodies are charred because the cause of the fire is smuggled fuel,” the official said.
The minister said that 20 people were being treated in hospital, including some in serious condition.
Later, prosecutor Abdoubaki Adam-Bongle from the Beninese Ministry of Justice said that 35 died included one child, adding that an investigation had been opened to determine the cause of the fire.
“According to the witnesses interviewed, the fire was probably started during the unloading of bags of gasoline,” he said.
A video shared widely on social media, purportedly of the fire, shows a tower of black smoke and flames spewing into the air above what appears to be a market place as shocked people watch from a safe distance.
For decades, Nigeria’s low-cost subsidized gasoline was transported illegally by road to neighboring countries, primarily Benin, where it is resold on the black market by informal sellers.
When he come to office in May, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu abandoned the long-standing subsidy meant to keep gasoline prices artificially low for Nigerians.
The subsidy cost the government billions of dollars a year and Tinubu made it his first of a series of reforms aimed at revamping the country’s economy and attracting more investment.
That decision caused gasoline prices to triple in Nigeria, and also affected the price of black market fuel smuggled over the border into Benin and other countries.
Nigeria’s subsidy decision illustrated Benin’s deep economic dependence on its giant neighbor, with 215 million inhabitants, the continent’s largest economy and status as one of Africa’s top oil producers.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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