The fire may have died down
and the smoke stopped rising to the skies but what remains clear is that the
last has not been heard about the fire incident in Onitsha which consumed a
couple of houses and caused extensive damage running into millions of Naira.
According to an eye witness
who spoke on the issue said a tanker driver driving a MACK petrol tanker with
registration number ABB 44 XA suffered a brake failure and in trying to bring
the Truck to a halt climbed over the kerb right opposite Dennis Memorial Grammar
School (DMGS) by Upper Iweka
The tanker fell over and
caught fire before spilling its content and setting fire to a nearby Mobil
filling station. The fire also affected a popular shopping mall,Kamo Plaza and about 5 houses. Several cars were also
consumed in the inferno that raged for hours before being contained.
The eye witness said it was a
clear case of bad luck. “The supermarket, the filling station and all the
houses and cars that gut burnt were just bad luck, I tell you. The fuel tanker
was already at the roundabout when it failed brake and as the driver struggled
to stop the truck it fell over and next thing, fire. Some of this people sef do
not know what caused the problem. It is really sad and if fire service came on
time maybe something would have happened.”
The tanker driver is believed
to have fled the scene. Meanwhile those who lost cars and property are
bemoaning their fate and trying to pick the pieces.
All attempts to speak to two
of the biggest losers, the owners of the Mobil filling station and Kamo Plaza was
not successful as at press time.
Tags
Society