A young welder identified as Kabir Usman has tragically lost his life after a tanker truck he was repairing exploded in Kaduna State.
The incident happened on Friday afternoon in Tafa town, off the Abuja-Kaduna expressway, within Kagarko Local Government Area.
According to residents, the explosion occurred while Usman was inside the compartment of the tanker, leading to a massive fire that shook the entire community.
Ahmad Bunkau, a resident who witnessed the incident, explained how the fire started shortly after midday.
“I was sitting inside a nearby mosque in preparation for Juma’at prayer when I heard a loud explosion some minutes after 12 pm on Friday.
On getting out, I saw a flame blowing into the sky, accompanied by explosions in succession, for about half an hour, before the fire was finally put out by the volunteers,” he narrated.
Efforts to control the fire were delayed due to jurisdictional issues between Kaduna and neighboring Niger State.
A police source revealed that attempts to invite firefighters from Sabon-Wuse in Tafa LGA, Niger State, failed.
The officials reportedly insisted that they could not respond to a fire incident outside their area of responsibility.
This left residents and volunteers to battle the flames on their own.
The situation highlighted a recurring challenge in emergency responses across state boundaries in Nigeria.
A police officer from the Tafa division, which shares a fence with the welding workshop, disclosed that the explosion initially caused panic among officers.
Many policemen fled in confusion, mistaking the explosion for a bomb attack.
However, normalcy was later restored when the Divisional Police Officer, SP Ibrahim Idris, led officers back to the scene.
Together with volunteers, they eventually managed to contain the fire.
After the fire was brought under control, the remains of the deceased welder were recovered.
His body was later deposited at the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Memorial Hospital in Sabon-Wuse, according to officials.
Meanwhile, community members have expressed grief over the loss, describing Kabir Usman as a hardworking young man who died while trying to earn his daily bread.
