At least 18 have died after a tanker carrying gasoline exploded in southern Nigeria

ABUJA, Nigeria — At least 18 people died and 10 others were injured in southern Nigeria after a gasoline tanker exploded, officials said.

The accident happened along the Enugu-Onitsha expressway in the southeastern state of Enugu after the tanker, laden with gasoline, lost control and rammed into 17 vehicles, and burst into flames, Nigeria's Federal Road Safety Corps said in a statement Saturday evening.

Those who died were ''burnt beyond recognition,'' the spokesperson of the safety corps rescue teams, Olusegun Ogungbemide, said. Besides the 10 injured, rescuers extracted three others who were unharmed.

With the absence of an efficient railway system to transport cargo, fatal truck accidents are common along most major roads in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country.

Earlier this month, 98 people were killed in a gasoline tanker blast in north-central Nigeria, near the Suleja area of Niger state, after individuals attempted to transfer gasoline from a crashed oil tanker into another truck using a generator. Some bystanders were at the scene to scoop gasoline. Authorities then began a nationwide campaign against the scooping of gasoline from fallen tankers and other practices that could lead to death.

''Gasoline tanker accidents do not have to lead to the loss of lives,'' Lanre Issa-Onilu, director-general of the National Orientation Agency, the body tasked with communicating government policy, said at an event close to the Suleja area on Saturday.

The prices of gasoline in Africa's most populous country have soared after President Bola Tinubu's government removed subsidies more than a year ago in an attempt to channel resources to more developmental purposes. However, the policy has caused hardship to locals.

Scooping gasoline from a fallen tanker is common in Nigeria as some either use or sell it for a profit.