A church and an event centre were among properties worth millions of naira destroyed on Thursday when a petroleum tanker fell and caught fire in the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The tanker, laden with diesel, was said to have overturned and spilled its content in the early hours of Thursday while trying to negotiate a sharp bend on the Claude Ake-East West Air Force link road, near the Eliozu flyover.
It was gathered that the tanker hit an electric pole, which caused the cables to spark and ignited fire, which spread into an electric transformer located under the pole.
An eyewitness, who identified himself as Kenny, told our correspondent that the transformer exploded and increased the inferno that spread into nearby shops, church and other buildings as a result of the diesel that was spilled on the ground.
Kenny said, “This morning, between 5am to 5.30am, we heard a loud sound and we wondered what could have caused such a sound, wondering if it was a Boko Haram attack.
“We saw flames everywhere. Although this is not the first time such an incident will happen, we had a similar experience about two months ago. This time, the fire was so much that we immediately called the fire service.
“The Rivers State Fire Service appeared at the scene about 20 minutes later and helped to quench the fire, using chemicals because the fire was much. As the diesel was moving on the ground, that was what the fire followed and spread to most property.”
Another eyewitness, who simply identified himself as Uduak, alleged that the police contributed to the unfortunate incident by chasing the tanker driver, forcing him to drive at a neck-breaking speed, even while negotiating the bend.
He said, “The Rivers State Government should caution the police; they are the ones that were pursuing the tanker driver. I saw them when I rushed out to see what was happening after I heard the loud sound of the tanker when it fell. That was why the tanker driver was speeding.”
Uduak lamented that the unfortunate incident had cost him his workshop and equipment, leaving him stranded.
“I came back from Umuahia yesterday and this early morning, I rushed to my workshop to pick up something to travel with and as I was inside my shop, I heard a loud sound and I immediately jumped out to see what was happening; the next thing I saw was fire.
“I tried to pick some of my things, but could not because the fire was huge. My heavy-duty welding generator, two of my filing machines and other tools were consumed in the fire. Please, let the Rivers State Government help me; I don’t want to resort to unlawful means to survive,” Uduak said.
Othe residents and owners of affected buildings appealed to the state government to install speed breakers on the sharp bend section of the road to avert a recurrence of the incident in future.
Several attempts to contact the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr Nnamdi Omoni, to speak on the matter failed as his line was busy. Punch
