Death toll in Nigeria road inferno tops 200

LAGOS, Nigeria (Reuters) -- Two days after one of Nigeria's worst road crashes, survivors of the apocalyptic inferno that burned scores of people alive were struggling with the shock of the tragedy.

"I thought the world had come to an end," said Abdul, one of scores of traders hawking food and drinks at the motorway toll gate on the edge of the university town of Ife when tragedy struck there.

"I believe more than 200 people died in the fire. There were hundreds of traders and passengers there at the time," Abdul told Reuters.

A gasoline tanker truck lost control and plowed through a line of loaded passenger buses, grocery trucks and private cars waiting in line at a police checkpoint at the busy toll plaza on Saturday night. The crash occurred on the highway linking Ibadan and Ife in southwest Osun State.

Newspapers on Monday reported a death toll of 150 and many injured. Police have yet to give an official figure, but witnesses and hospital sources corroborated the count of more than 200 killed instantly.

Apart from a handful of people who escaped, only 14 with severe burn injuries were taken to a hospital from the hundreds at the scene, hospital officials said.

"They'll be lucky to pull through this," said a nurse at the Ife General Hospital of the 14.

Late on Monday anguished relatives were still looking through the grisly pile of scorched bodies left at the scene, most burned beyond recognition, in search of loved ones.

A senior police official in the southwestern area, interviewed on radio, denied persistent reports that police at the roadblock were collecting bribes from drivers, causing the long queue of vehicles to build up.

The Nigerian government has abolished such checkpoints widely known to be used by police for illegal collection of cash from motorists.

Police officials said police at that particular point were helping motorists through a section of the motorway still under construction.

A police patrol car was one of the vehicles consumed in the fireball. No policemen died.

Nigeria's network of highways, though reasonably good by African standards, produces some of the world's most spectacular crashes mainly because of drivers with questionable licenses and poorly maintained vehicles traveling too fast.

Many Nigerians say rampant police corruption means many drivers obtain licenses without going through any testing.

Nigeria's economic stagnation over the past decade has also led to a flood of used vehicles from abroad with no record of maintenance.

Finance Minister Adamau Ciroma and Police Minister David Jemibewon returned to work only this week after prolonged absences following severe injuries they suffered from separate road crashes.

Gasoline tanker lorries have become a growing danger on highways since Nigeria's network of products pipelines has been savaged by fuel thieves, making road transport of oil products inevitable.

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