MAIDUGURI, Nigeria 

About a dozen people are feared dead in an explosion of a fuel tanker in southeastern Nigeria, local media reports said Friday.

A fuel tanker outside a gas station along the Enugu-Onitsha Highway exploded in the early hours of Friday.

Donatus Oroh, a bus driver, at the scene of the accident told Anadolu Agency by phone the fuel tanker caught fire. 

"I saw the fire when I drove past," he said.

This is the second tanker explosion this week in the country's southeast region coming barely 48 hours after a similar incident killed at least seven in the commercial city of Onitsha.