By Princely Onyenwe,Imo
Saturday evening 29-01-2022, many motorists, escaped death when a diesel laden tanker exploded at a filling station along Aba Road, Umuahia Abia State Nigeria.
Our correspodent reports that the tanker was discharging diesel at the petrol station when the fire ignited under the truck and exploded all over the street in the area.
At the notice of the fire some staff of the filling station and passers-by attempted to use fire extinguishers to quench the fire, but the fire continued to spring up.
This attracted the emergency call on Firefighters who rushed to the scene trying to control the fire from spreading to surrounding buildings, shops and vehicles within the area.
However, the fire was put to control by the continued efforts of the fire fighters though the tanker was burnt down completely at the time of this report by 9 News Nigeria.
Efforts to get to the Director of Abia State Fire Service, Mr. Arua Nnanna, proved abortive.
Also, the residents of Onitsha, Anambra State are counting their losses in last Friday’s 28-01-22 tanker explosion, which resulted in the loss of properties worth billions of naira.
The incident happened at Upper Iweka area of Onitsha Owerri Road, when the tanker laden with petrol, also known as Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, fell and exploded.
Properties worth billions of naira at both sides of the road including Ezeiweka junction, Awada, Obodoukwu Road in Okpoko and their environs were destroyed.
When our correspodent visited the scene to ascertain the level of damages done, many shop owners were seen lamenting the loss of their goods while others made efforts to salvage the items they could.
It was gathered that Men of the fire service both from Anambra and Delta states arrived at the scene, but could not stop the fire.
The situation was pathetic having more than five different story buildings where shoe manufacturers are located burnt down while provision stores and show factories among others were destroyed.
Angry residents and traders bemoaned the incident, attributing it to what they called insensitivity on the part of government.
While Speaking with our correspodent who visited the scene, the incident could have been avoided if government had fixed a failed portion of the road where the explosion occurred, the residents lamented.
The people from the affected states are calling for proactive measures to prevent a repeat of such especially at places known to be temporary stops for fuel and gas tankers moving across the state and beyond to reduce the risk of tanker Explosion which has become paramount on our roads.
Recall that similar tanker Explosions have continued to occur in states like Delta, Abia, Imo, Anambra and Port-Harcourt where lives and properties worth Millions of Naira are lost.
9News Nigeria (Owerri) For inquiries on this news contact 9News Nigeria Imo State @08036856526
