Abuja, June 29 : Scores of people were feared dead on Thursday evening when a fuel-laden tanker exploded amid traffic in Nigeria's commercial city of Lagos, with the blaze engulfing many vehicles, media reports said.

The crash occurred on a bridge as the tanker headed out of Lagos, toward the 127.6 km Lagos-Ibadan expressway in Nigeria's southwest region, Xinhua reported.

The local Channels Television reported that traffic has been stopped on both sides of the road and emergency officials are at the scene trying to put out the fire and attend to those affected. Many people were seen trapped in their cars amid the raging fire, eyewitnesses said.

There was a mild traffic on the bridge when the explosion occurred, said Gbolahan Adebisi, a commercial bus driver who witnessed the incident.

Local emergency officials said about 60 vehicles were seen to have been affected by the fire so far.

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Kochi: The official Facebook page of Malayalam news channel MediaOne TV has been restored after being blocked without prior notice, the broadcaster said on Wednesday.

The channel was quoted by Maktoob as saying that the restriction was lifted automatically, with Meta Platforms informing it that the action had been taken following a “government request” which has now expired or been reversed.

The development came shortly after the channel approached the Kerala High Court challenging the blocking of its page, terming it arbitrary and in violation of legal provisions and judicial precedents. The High Court had issued notice to Meta via email hours before the restriction was withdrawn.

In its petition, the channel said access to its Facebook page had been restricted for users in India without citing any specific content or alleged violation. It contended that while individual posts may be taken down under applicable a rule, blocking an entire page goes beyond the scope of such measures.

The incident followed an earlier action taken against the channel in 2022, when the Ministry of Information and transmitting prohibited it from transmitting. It cited national security concerns regarding the Ministry of Home Affairs' refusal of security clearance.


The Supreme Court of India in April 2023 set aside the ban, observing that national security claims cannot be made without substantive basis and that criticism of government policies does not render a media outlet anti-national.