Rescue officials say at least 36 people, including children, have been killed in a major road accident in southern Nigeria Edo State.

Local reporters quoted officials as saying that the two vehicles collided on the Benin-Ore motorway in Edo state involved a bus and a petrol tanker.

The tanker exploded after the collision and most of the victims were reportedly on board the bus traveling to their destinations.

The accident happened on Friday at about 13:30 local time (12:30 GMT) near the Ugboguii village where the highway runs through.

The spokesman for Nigeria’s Federal Road Safety Commission Jonas Agwu said the dead included 30 passengers from the bus, four people from the petrol tanker and two children from a nearby mechanical shop beside the road.

As a result of the accident, the busy motorway linking the commercial capital Lagos with the south-east of the country was temporarily closed, causing heavy vehicular traffic, local reporters say.

This accident comes just in two days after a head-on collision between two buses in central Nigeria killed 18 people and leaving many injured.

In July 2012, more than 100 people died in southern Nigeria after a tanker carrying petrol crashed, many got injured as well.

Officials also added that the cause of the accident is being investigated by road officials so that corrections can be made to improve the standard of highway driving to prevent future accidents.

Issaka Adams / NationalTurk Africa News

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