Fuel tanker explosion kills 15 in Ibadan

No fewer than 15 persons were roasted late Saturday night as a fully loaded petrol tanker exploded at Molete in Ibadan, Oyo State. The petrol tanker fell while trying to negotiate a bend.

Several others who sustained varying degrees of injuries, including an 8-year-old girl, were rushed to the Accident and Emergency section of University College Hospital, Ibadan.

Properties worth millions of naira were also destroyed by the inferno which, according to an eye witness, consumed 45 shops, 13 vehicles, three houses, seven commercial motorcycles, three commercial tricycles and several other items.

Afric Tv gathered that the accident happened when a fully loaded tanker lost control and emptied its contents on the road which later led to a deafening explosion.

The Iyaloja of Molete Market, Alhaja Iswat Oyinlola, who hinted that Governor Abiola Ajimobi had visited the scene, said the casualty figure would have been more but for the river that checkmated it.

She said: “I was at home around 10 pm when I got the message that a truck with petrol which lost control fell at Molete roundabout and spilled its fuel which resulted into fire.

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“When I got to the market,   the fire had spread every where at the roundabout. If not for the river behind the market, the fuel would have flooded the whole area and caused more death.

“I noticed that 13 vehicles, seven commercial motorcycles and three commercial tricycles were burnt, 10 people were roasted and 45 shops were burnt.

“We don’t know the actual number of those who died in the inferno but from the list I have with me, 10 people were confirmed dead. Others were taken to the hospital.”

Mrs. Oyinlola, further said that commercial bus drivers have turned the roundabout to their park, adding that the truck was unable to negotiate the bend smoothly, it was carrying full load of fuel and fell in the process.

Also, another trader who managed to speak with newsmen early morning yesterday, Mr. Ahmed Adeoye said many of the casualties were roadside traders who allegedly defied government order to stop selling wares by the roadsides.

“I thank God that nobody sustained injury in my shop, many road side traders were unlucky as they lost their lives and goods to   the fire”.

Adeoye said he counted about 15 bodies very late in the night when the fire was put out, adding that he lost property estimated at N2m.

Afric Tv observed scores of security agents, State Fire Service officials, and several unrecognised items at the scene with smoke billowing out of the rubbles.

At the University College Hospital, the Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ayodeji Bobade, said about 11 victims, comprising a young girl, six males and four females were rushed to the   teaching hospital late on Saturday.

“One of them died later in the night as all of them suffered severe burns,” the hospital scribe told Afric Tv.

While some of the victims thanked providence for making them escape the fatal accident and raging inferno, they, however, complained bitterly about the debt incurred due to loss of  property.

One of the victims who identified himself as Chigozie Eze, said the accident had left him completely ‘naked’.

Chigozie, who sells drugs said “I had left the shops and was on my way   home when I received   a call that my shop was on fire, when I got there, I was shocked to the bone marrow seeing the extent of the accident.”

Giving vivid account of how the accident happened, the highly depressed trader said: “I learnt that the truck driver was trying to avoid a bad spot on the road when negotiating the roundabout but lost control of the vehicle in the process.

“The contents reportedly spilled on the road and was followed by an explosion. God saved my brother who escaped through the back door but we lost everything. I had more than N400,000 in the shop”.

“One of our customers was said to have been so unlucky as he lost his life in the raging fire.”

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