Tanker fire kills scores

AT least 35 people have been killed and hundreds injured after a gas tanker exploded and started a blaze in the northern Nigerian state of Nasarawa.

A State Emergency Management Agency official said the accident happened at a petrol station along the Lafia-Makurdi road that links the capital city of Abuja with northern and southern Nigeria.

SEMA director Usman Ahmed said the truck exploded at the point of discharging the gas on Monday, citing a witness account.

The agency was investigating the incident.