10 vehicles Destroyed In Tanker Fire in Lagos

About nine Vehicles have been destroyed yesterday when fire broke out where people were scooping spilled petrol from a tanker on Lagos-Badagry Expressway.

It was learnt that the tanker rammed into a white van around 10:30pm on Monday, spilled its content at Onireke bus stop, opposite Ojo Cantonment.

The Nation, however, reported that the Tanker and the other affected vehicles were removed by emergency workers.

Hours after, it was gathered that fire broke out near the accident scene, around 5a.m., gutting three buses, a saloon car and six trucks.

A source at the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) said there was no casualty contrary to claims  making the rounds that a live was lost to the inferno.

“No life was lost in the fire. The tanker that spilled its content was not affected. The spillage happened on Monday night. It was stopped and the tanker drove away from the place. Fire service officials also blanketed the affected area.

“Then hours later, fire broke out and affected some vehicles. No one was injured and no house was burnt. The fire was ignited by unruly drivers, who disobeyed safety instructions and that led to a spark,” said a source.

Adesina Tiamiyu, the general Manager of LASEMA said that the agency reponded to a distress call concerning a tanker accident around 9:48pm on Monday at Barracks inward Iyana Iba bus stop.

“This prompted the activation of the agency’s response team to the scene of the incident. Upon arrival at the scene, it was observed that the tanker with unknown registration number, laden with 33,000 litres of PMS, collided with a white mini truck carrying electrical appliances.

“The tanker’s rear compartment got punctured, resulting in spilling of the PMS into the environs. Consequently, a combined team of LASEMA Response Unit (LRU), Lagos State Fire Service, police and other responders successfully curtailed and stopped further spillage of the PMS into the environment.

“The articulated tanker and trucks were thereafter recovered from the incident scene. However, during the recovery process, the PMS, which hitherto spilled into the distant environment, ignited the fire.

“The fire travelled back to the proximity of the scene, resulting in three buses, a car and six trucks getting burnt. The circumstances resulting in this fatal secondary incident can be attributed to unsafe practices by residents in the distant places where the PMS spilled into. No person was injured, neither was any death recorded.

“The Lagos State Fire Service, officials of the LASEMA Response Team, 81 Division Nigerian Army Fire Service, Nigeria Police and Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) raced to the scene of the incident.

“Motorists are advised to listen to the instruction of emergency workers on the incident scene, to avoid such unfortunate incident in future,” said Tiamiyu.

Mrs. Bola Ajao, Lagos State Fire Service Chief Public Affairs Officer, said the Alausa, Ikeja headquarters’ station received a call on Monday around 8:58pm about an accident involving a Mack tanker with 33,000 litres of PMS.

The tanker, she said, lost control and hit the rear of a commercial bus, which resulted in the spillage of fuel.

She said the Ojo fire station was alerted and it responded immediately.

“Our men from Ojo fire station blanketed the area with chemical compound foam to avoid fire outbreak. The drivers of the tanker and commercial bus settled and both left the scene,” she said.

According to her, the fire was caused by the spilled fuel that found its way into the drainage where hoodlums created a dam to siphon the spilled fuel.

“The fire call came today (yesterday) around 5.39am with a report of fire outbreak as a result of hoodlums’ activities. The Ojo station responded immediately and put out the fire,” she said

She advised the publc to desist from risking their lives in the quest for financial gain.