2023-09-24 12:24:35
A fire, caused by an explosion in an illegal warehouse of smuggled fuel, caused the death of at least 34 people in the early hours of this Sunday (24), in the south of Benin, on the border with Nigeria, which is a large oil and gas producer. The African nation also has Togo, Burkina Faso and Niger as neighbors. The information comes from the Minister of the Interior, Alassane Seidou.
“This morning, a serious fire occurred in the city of Seme Podji. Unfortunately, we recorded 34 deaths, including two babies,” he told reporters. “The cause of the fire is smuggled fuel, which caught fire,” she added.
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In addition to the dead, 20 people were injured, some seriously, and were taken to the hospital, Seidou said.
There are still no other details about the circumstances that caused the fire.
Nigeria is a major oil and gas producer, and smuggling across its borders is commonplace. For decades, state subsidies have provided the country’s population with an especially low price for fuel, which ends up being exported illegally to neighbors, such as Benin.
The new president of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, removed these subsidies, which caused an increase in prices and also had repercussions on the illegal market.
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