Man dies stealing fuel from tanker – good thieves know when to stop

The decomposed body of a 25-old-man, Zayyanu Abubakar, has been evacuated from inside a petrol tanker compartment where he suffocated and died since Friday, Oct. 4, while stealing petrol.

The deceased fell inside the tank of the vehicle with registration number, XA 640 TBW, parked along Sokoto western bye-pass, loaded with 33,000 litres of petrol.

The deceased was alleged to have earlier on the night of the fateful day, stolen 20 litres from the fuel compartment and had returned for more when he ended up inside.

It took the combined efforts of the officers of the state fire service, the police from Kwanni Division, Sokoto and some good Samaritans, four hours – 8 a.m to 12 noon – to remove the decomposed body from the tankers belly.

Yahaya Mohammed, a relative of the deceased  said at the scene of the incident that Abubakar was warned by his brothers against the act.

“He told his siblings about his earlier successful exploits and they warned him against going back into the vehicle.

“He had told them that he nearly suffocated in the first attempt, but unknown to them, he went back, got trapped and died,” Mohammed said.

A fire serviceman, Zayyanu Jelani said, “we were here since around 8.00a.m when we were alerted about the ugly development.

“This is the first time we are recording this type of unfortunate incident in Sokoto apart from fire incidents on fuel tankers.”

The spokesman of the state police command, DSP Al-Mustapha Sani confirmed the story and added that the police would thoroughly investigate the incident.

NAN reports that the remains of the deceased had been deposited at the morgue of Uthmanu Danfodio University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto.