Seven
persons were feared dead with several others injured after a truck loaded with
33,000 litres of petroleum product exploded at Ibafo, along the Lagos-Ibadan
Express way, Tuesday night.
There
were different accounts on how the explosion occurred. A version said a tanker,
belonging to Total Oil Nigeria Limited, collided with a heavy log, skidded off
its lane and fell on the expressway, spilling its content.
Another
version claimed a commercial bus marked (LAGOS) AGL 373 XR, rammed into the
truck with number plates RAN 571 XA, while transferring its content into
another truck, leading to multiple accidents, involving four vehicles.
A
third version said the driver of the fuel-laden truck moving towards Ibadan,
Oyo State, attempted to overtake another truck at a diversion point, but lost
control, veered off its lane and crashed into the commercial bus that was
coming from the opposite direction.
Road
side hawkers of petroleum products, occupants of some shanties at Kara area of
Ibafo were affected.
Eyewitnesses
said some of the victims were scooping the spilled content when the fire
started.
Users
of the ever busy expressway were trapped for over 10 hours, as the resultant
gridlock stretched from Arepo-Prayer city to Mowe.
Eyewitnesses
accounts An eyewitness who said he escaped death by the whiskers, Muhammad Ali,
called on the Borno and Kano states governors to come to the aid of the
victims, majority of whom he said were from the states. Another eyewitness said
a passenger attempted to jump out of a Plateau-bound vehicle, but hit his head
on the ground and died before reaching hospital. Assistant Corps Commander,
Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, Mowe Unit, Mr. Dare Ogunjobi, could not
ascertain the number of casualties.
He
said: “After clearing the traffic, we are going to visit some of the private
hospitals in the neighbourhood to ascertain the number of injured victims and
the casualty figure. But currently, we have not received any report from the
Hausas community about any casualty.
“No
death has been reported to us officially. We have not seen the driver of the
vehicle since Tuesday night after the crash and we are still investigating the
cause of the incident. “We received a distress call at about 10:22p.m. and
immediately mobilised our men to the scene and police and the Army officers
were on ground to prevent break down of law and order.”
On
his part, Ogun State Treasurer of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Mr.
Khalifa Muhammad, said three of the Forum’s members died in the explosion.
Seven other persons, who he said were not members of the Forum, were also
affected.
He said: “When we rushed the victims to a
private hospital in the community, the doctor was demanding for N100,000 for
each victim before admitting them. We could only pay N130,000 for Adam. “The
rest were brought back home where they were receiving local treatment. They are
Abdullahi Umar, 22; Issa Yahaya, 24, and Sallah Muhammad, 23.” The wreckage was
eventually cleared at about 3.30p.m., yesterday.
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