A local farmer in Jigawa State, Mustapha Majiya, has revealed that he lost 50 family members in the tanker fire which killed 181 persons.
Majiya told the BBC that among those he lost were two of his nephews 16-year-old Nuradeed Rabiu and 17-year-old Dini Babalo who died from trying to stop the people scooping fuel from the leaking tanker.
He said “they tried to stop others from getting too close.”
The young men, Majiya said, were in secondary school.
Fifty-year-old Mustapha said he just bought books and new uniforms for the term.
He said he lost a long-time friend, Jamilu Maigaji, in the explosion which took place about an hour after the crash.
The farmer is married to two wives and 13 children and was at the scene of the accident as other locals were scooping the fuel.
He said some of the fuel streamed into drainage and some people scrambled by the side of the highway.
“Some other people were just watching, not knowing the dangers of being around the scene,” Majiya lamented.
As a devout Muslim, Majiya said he has taken what has happened as the will of God as the giver and taker of life.