A tanker conveying 33,000 litres of premium motor spirit (PMS) on Tuesday exploded at Iyana-Ipaja, Lagos, about 1:00 a.m., injuring no fewer than 14 persons; gutting about 21 vehicles and razing 44 shops to ashes.
The inferno also razed five buildings and six tricycles, though officials of the Lagos State Fire Service and Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) later responded to the distress call.
Based on reports from different rescue teams, the fire did not claim any life, though a good number of shop owners and traders were seriously affected, losing all their investments and means of livelihoods.
Speaking at the scene, the Director of the state fire service, Mr. Rasak Fadipe, explained that the tanker driver lost control on Iyana-Ipaja due to fatigue.
Consequently, the director said, the tanker swerved to the roadside and fell from the middle of the bridge, thus leading to the spillage of its content and the outbreak of fire that gutted buildings and other investments.
Fadipe added that the accident did not claim life because the state fire team responded almost immediately it received the distress call, noting that there would have been grievous damage if the response had not been swift.
The director disclosed that there were other related incidents in Badagry, where the driver of a tanker conveying 33,000 litres of diesel was contesting the road with a tipper, and in Ejigbo where fire razed a building.
The state governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode has visited the scene of the incident, blaming frequent tanker explosions in the state on carelessness and indiscipline of the truck drivers.
He explained that the agencies “have been able to report that everything has been put under control. We have also recorded two other incidences, just like this one in other parts of Lagos overnight; one in Badagry and another in Ojo.”
source#thisday#
