At least 48 killed in Nigerian fuel truck explosion

Several other vehicles were also caught up in the accident, it said.

The agency's spokesman Hussaini Ibrahim put the death toll at 48 and officials were still trying to clear the scene of the incident.

Nigeria's state-owned firm NNPC Ltd last week hiked the price of petrol by at least 39 per cent, the second major increase in more than a year but shortages have continued, forcing motorists to queue for hours in the country's major cities and towns.