Three burnt to death in Ogun tanker fire
At least three persons were burnt to
death in a fire accident involving a tanker and three other vehicles on
Kara Bridge on the Lagos – Ibadan Expressway in the early hours of
Wednesday.
The incident had however resulted in
heavy gridlock on the Berger side of the expressway, with many motorists
and commuters stranded as no vehicle could go through the bridge
outward Lagos.
While the three persons were burnt
beyond recognition and their remains in the care of the security
agencies, our correspondent also saw a burnt corpse floating on the Ogun
River under the bridge.
It was gathered that the fire started
around 3am when a truck carrying goods lost its brake and ran into a
tanker, which ignited the fire and engulfed two other trucks and a
Toyota Corolla saloon car in flames.
But the Lagos State Emergency Management
Agency, in a statement, said the incident occurred at about 3.08am when
the tanker carrying 33,000 litres of diesel ran into a truck carrying
brewery products at high speed, and then caught fire.
It said the tanker, two container-carrying trucks and one Toyota Corolla saloon car were burnt in the accident.
The statement partly read, “The driver
was said to have abruptly applied brake at the Kara Bridge outward Lagos
resulting in multiple accident and fire outbreak with colossal loss.”
Meanwhile, an eyewitness and owner of
the burnt saloon car, told our correspondent at the venue of the
incident that he was coming from work when he ran into traffic on the
bridge.
He explained that the traffic eased a
bit when a truck coming from the rear brushed his vehicle by the side
and rammed into a tanker, leading to the fire.
“That was how other vehicles, including
mine caught fire, and till now I still don’t know how I escaped because
the fire was unlike no other,” he added.
Some vehicle owners stuck in the traffic
were also seen to be thoroughly frustrated by the development, while
many had switched off their engines.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the
National Emergency Management Agency, South-west zone, Ibrahim
Farinloye, advised motorists to take alternative routes pending the time
the debris occasioned by the fire would be cleared.
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