At least eight individuals, among them a three-year-old child and her mother, were tragically presumed dead in a tanker explosion that occurred on Friday in Omenta Okpe, situated in the Okpe Local Government Area of Delta State.

Acccordng to PUNCH Online, it was reported that the incident occurred as the ill-fated tanker coming from Effurun lost control while trying to overtake another truck a few metres away from the boundary bridge between Uvwie and Okpe Local Government Area.

Witnesses said that the victims were burnt beyond recognition, just as several others sustained varied degrees of injuries and were hospitalised.

The incident, which occurred at about 10 am, also left some buildings, vehicles, and heavy-duty trucks destroyed.

According to witnesses, the mother of the three-year-old child was trapped in the raging fire as she was making efforts to rescue her child.

It was further gathered that another victim of the inferno, a secondary school boy, had just returned from school only to meet his untimely death in the fire.

As of the time of filing this report, the Director-General, Warri, Uvwie and Environs Development Agency, WUEDA, Prince Enjinyere, was at the scene of the incident assessing the level of damage caused by the explosion and equally mobilising support to evacuate the bucket of the fuel-laden truck off the road to avoid further damage.