The death toll from a fuel truck explosion in Nigeria has climbed to 98 after additional bodies were recovered on Monday, according to the Niger state emergency agency. The blast occurred on Saturday in Dikko, Niger State, after a petrol truck overturned and ignited while people were gathering fuel from the wreckage.

Abdullahi Baba-Ara, Director-General of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, confirmed that 80 victims were buried in a mass grave near a health center in Dikko over the weekend. “After clearing the wreckage of the Dikko tanker, we discovered 12 more bodies today, raising the death toll to 98,” Baba-Ara told Reuters.

The explosion also left 69 people hospitalized with injuries.

This tragedy is the deadliest fuel truck explosion since October, when a similar incident in Jigawa State claimed 147 lives. Such accidents have become frequent in Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, as the country struggles with a severe cost-of-living crisis.

Fuel prices have soared since President Bola Tinubu removed a petrol subsidy in 2023, further straining the population and contributing to the desperation that often leads people to risk their lives collecting fuel from tanker accidents.