A fuel tanker explosion in northern Nigeria has killed more than 140 people, a spokesman for the national emergency agency told AFP on Wednesday, Paralel.Az reports.

Victims were burnt to death on Tuesday trying to collect fuel that had spilled from the crashed vehicle in the town of Majia in Jigawa state.

Nura Abdullahi, a spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), said "more than 140" people have been buried in a mass grave and warned the toll was likely to rise further.

The tanker had veered to avoid colliding with a truck in the town of Majia, police spokesman Lawan Shiisu Adam said.

Following the crash, residents crowded around the vehicle, collecting fuel that had spilled on the road and in drains, Adam said.

He said the residents had "overwhelmed" officers trying to stop them.

The Nigerian Medical Association has urged doctors to rush to nearby emergency rooms to help with the influx of patients.

Fuel tanker explosions are common in Africa's most populous nation, where roads can be poorly maintained and residents often look to siphon off fuel following accidents.

*** 16:16

At least 90 people were killed and 50 others sustained various degrees of injury after a gasoline tanker exploded in Nigeria's northern state of Jigawa late Tuesday, police said on Wednesday, Paralel.Az reports citing Xinhua.

The victims were mostly people who had rushed to the scene to collect gasoline after the tanker lost control and overturned in Majiya, a town in the Taura local government area, Shi'isu Lawan Adam, the spokesman for the Jigawa police, told Xinhua over phone.

"The tanker spilled its contents into a drainage ditch after overturning. The high casualty count is due to the crowd that gathered around the accident scene," Adam said.

The injured were taken to a government hospital for treatment, while a mass burial for the deceased was arranged for Wednesday morning, he added.