Tanker fire outbreak consumes 9 vehicles, 10 shops

A major calamity occurred at the Sokori area of Abeokuta Ogun State capital, following a fire outbreak which emanated from a 33,000-litres petrol tanker, whose contents spilled on the major road, as a result of the driver losing control of the vehicle.

NEXT reports that the ugly incident which occurred at about 7.00pm on Sunday, consumed nine vehicles which include a tipper, one motorcycle and seven cars. Also, ten shops were consumed in the fire, while one person identified as a taxi driver sustained burns which claimed his life 24 hours after.

Further investigation revealed that the petrol carrying tanker with registration number XN 52 AGL was heading towards a fuel station to off-load its contents, when on getting to the slippery Okesokori, the driver lost control and hit the median.

The impact of the hit resulted in the tanker pouring out the fuel content on the road, and in a twinkle the tanker caught fire, which spread to other parts of the road, consuming a number of vehicles and the shops beside the road, as well as goods worth million naira.

As the fire spread, residents of the neighbouring were seen running helter-skelter for their lives, as many abandoned their homes, apparently to avoid fire consuming them alongside their homes located within the vicinity.

In a quick response to the development, the state fire services rushed to the scene to put out the fire which lasted for over 30 minutes. The authorities of the National Emergency Relief Agency {NERMA}, State Traffic Road Compliance were also involved in extinguishing the fire.

A survivor of the incident, Taiye Olaifa, who was driving the tipper which was burnt during the incident, said he had to jump out from the vehicle when fire was approaching the tipper lorry, stressing that, he saw death coming but God was on his side to enable him escape being burnt.

"I can only remember that I had a thunderous sound, and looking back I noticed fire from the petrol tanker, realizing the danger, I quickly abandoned my vehicle and miraculously jumped out to escape", Mr Olaifa recalled.

However, as at 9.30am today the state governor, Ibikunle Amosun, had paid a visit to the scene to ascertain level of the destruction, while in similar vein, the Ogun State police commissioner, Nicholas Ndemkene was also there on a visit.