By; RAYMOND TEDUNJAYE, Lagos
No fewer than 11 assorted vehicles were burnt beyond repairs and goods worth several millions of Naira destroyed in an inferno caused by a fuel tanker explosion on Thursday night in Lagos.
The burnt vehicles include two fuel tankers, one tipper truck, three trailers, three cars and two micro- mini buses popularly known as “korope”.
The incident, which occurred at about 8.00pm at the Iganmu axis of the Ijora -Apapa road in front of Motor Part Industry (MPI), was said to have raged for over an hour before it was brought under control by men of the Iganmu Station of the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service.
Our correspondent, who visited the scene gathered that the incident occurred when the driver of the truck lost control as result of the bad road, crashed the truck, which fell on an articulated vehicle carrying packs of butter and saidine, leading to the explosion.
Following the explosion, other drivers were said to have scampered for safety, which caused their abandoned vehicles being burnt by the ensuing fire.
The heat of the billowing fire, according to eye witness, forced residents of Igammu Alawo community, Ijora Railway line and traders within the vicinity to flee the area.
The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) Ijora Badia Division CSP Ayoola Olawole and his men were on ground at the scene till the following morning and protected goods in some trapped containers from being looted by miscreants who thronged the scene.
Speaking with our correspondent at the scene, the Coordinator Lagos Territorial Office, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye attributed the cause of the incident to lack of caution by the driver of the fuel tanker.
He said the driver failed to take cognisance of the effect of the rainy season on the alpshat of the road.
The confirmed that no injury nor death was recorded in the incident.
Farinloye urged all motorists to put their vehicles in good order before embarking on a journey, warning that its failure may lead to the unexpected.
He also warned truck drivers in the habit of assigning their assistants (motor boy) to drive loaded trucks from the depots to desist from the act, saying it most times lead to accident on the road.
His words, ” Contrary to reports that the truck fell form the bridge, it not through. From what I got from eyewitness, all the vehicles were on motion, the fuel tanker crashed and fell on an articulated truck carrying sardine and detergents and that made other drivers to be worried and ran helter scelter, making all the 11 vehicles to be trapped and got burnt in the ensuing inferno. Fortunately, no injury nor death was recorded.
” We can’t put the blame on bad road but failure of extreme caution by the driver. Drivers have to carry out extreme care when driving on any road. You can see that the driver of the truck is not the only one that has passed the road today, others passed successively. Even there were those who drove off and not caught up in the fire.
” Most times, the truck drivers ask their motor boy to load the truck and drive from the depots to meet them somewhere. They should desist from this habit because it also cause some of the accidents.”
The Director Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service Mrs. Adeseye Margaret, who also confirmed the incident in a release, stated that no life was lost in the inferno nor injuries recorded.
Speaking in a chat, the Managing Director of Goldfire Liquified Company, Mr. Theo John Philips, whose client’s goods were perished in the inferno lamented the deplorable conditions of roads inward and outward of Ijora.
He said the unfortunate incident occurred as a result of bad road and government’s failure to repair it.
Disclosing that he has spent millions of naira to fill some bad portions of the roads with hardcore stones, Philips who engages in warehousing of goods, implored the Federal Government to urgently embark on the repairs of the roads for business to thrive in the area.
” See what has happened now, the goods of my client perished in the fire incident, they just drove out of the premises now, the driver and motor boy also sustained injuries and we have to take care of them.
” We pay taxes to government, pay for fumigation to the local government council, area boys also collect money from every truck that goes out of here. The government should quickly fix the roads so that we don’t continue to suffer loss”. he implored.
As the time of filing the report, officials of the Lagos State Emergency Management Authority (LASEMA) were seeing removing the carcasses of the burnt vehicles with crane.
Also the DPO Ijora Badia Division CSP Ayoola Moses and his operatives were still at the scene and other emergency responders of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA).
