Friday, July 29, 2011

Six feared dead, several hurt in Enugu fuel tanker fire

From Lawrence Njoku , Enugu

NOT less than six people were feared dead and several others including officials of the Enugu Fire Service seriously wounded after a fuel tanker exploded at about 7.05 a.m. at the Prisons Roundabout in Enugu.



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The petrol tanker marked Lagos XL 968 JJJ, according to reports, which belonged to Shorelink Oil and Gas services Limited Port Harcourt and bearing 33,000 litres of fuel fell while negotiating a corner.

Those who tried to salvage the fire received various degrees of injuries and are being treated at the ESUT Teaching Hospital, Park-lane.

When the inferno was contained several hours later, six persons had been consumed in the inferno while over 50 residential houses occupied by prison and police officials in the barracks had been gutted.

Enugu State Deputy Governor, Sunday Onyebuchi , who rushed to the scene at exactly 11.11 a.m. described the incident as "bad disaster and very unfortunate", saying that it should be placed on record as among the setbacks in the history of the state.

But he said he was told that only "one person died" in the fire which spread into the barracks occupied by prison officials. As the fire raged, it razed property, goods, cars, shops, animals as well as other objects within sight.

From the gutters in the prison quarters, the fire spread into the police quarters at the Central Police Station where it rendered many officers homeless. Parts of the adjoining Ogbete market were equally razed.

An eyewitness, Ndubuisi Ota, a security man in the neighbourhood told The Guardian at the scene how the tanker fell and explained that his shouting helped save several persons, many of who were still in bed when the incident happened.

He said: "The tanker man was driving from the new market , and from where I was buying battery, I saw how he was struggling with the steering while attempting to negotiate this bend and climbed a stone that was abandoned here. Suddenly the tanker fell and fuel started gushing out.

"Initially, those who heard the loud bang were confused whether it was a bomb or some other thing, and even when they noticed the content of the tanker flowing into the barracks, some thought it was kerosene. So I was shouting it was fuel and all of a sudden a ball of fire came up immediately and as the fuel was flowing, the fire followed it. But I kept shouting, 'this is fire, this is fire and people started running.' "

Ota, who said all efforts to get fire-fighting men to the scene on time were not successful, and that the driver of the tanker jumped down and took to his heels, stressing that so many families including squatters in the quarters were affected.

Onyebuchi who spoke to journalists after inspecting the extent of destruction, was full of praise for the Divisional Police Officer at the Central Police Station, Ike Mbah and stressed that his prompt intervention saved the fire from causing more damage.

He was also full of gratitude to officials of the road safety corps, civil defence corps and men of the fire service for their efforts.

He ordered the immediate evacuation of the fallen tanker from the road to avert another accident and asked the police to cordon off the area to avoid further casualties.

He assured that the State government would come to the aid of the affected families and directed the state commissioner for environment to relocate all shops, stores and houses blocking major entry into the quarters within the next two weeks.

Onyebuchi said the situation could have been salvaged early enough if the firemen had easy access into the quarters, which he observed were overcrowded.

Also speaking, Chairman of Enugu North Council, Herbert Oji in whose domain the incident occurred, said the council would take steps to assist families affected in the incident and called on the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to come to the aid of the families.