A tanker laden with 45, 000 litres of Premium Motor Spirit known as petrol fell on Saturday, spilling its content which ignited fire on Olambe Matogun Road, Ifo, in Ifo local government area of Ogun State and consumed ten buildings as well as valuable properties in the area
Penpushing reports that Zonal Coordinator, South West, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Ibrahim Farinloye, in a statement said the incident occurred at about 7.00 a.m. ,adding that no life was lost.
“Though no life was lost or anyone sustained injury but about 10 buildings were consumed in the incident. The situation was mitigated with most of the content spilling into the canal close to the scene. This saved the community from serious incident that could have affected more people’, he said.
Penpushing further reports that, as at the time of filing this report, Farinloye, said the fire had been put out, just as residents and traders continued to recount their losses, while sources disclosed that five shops, worth millions of naira, including electricity cables, were said to have been burnt in the fire.
The victims lamented that number of their belongings were consumed in the incident, with one of them, a caterer identified as Abosede Olowolagba, lamenting that nothing was left of her shop except debris of the burnt items.
“I rented this place last Monday. I am a caterer and a decorator. I have lost a lot to this incident: my oven, tables, decoration materials, cake materials, bags of flour sugar and so on. I can’t find anything there now, millions of naira are all gone”, she said.
Penpushing also reports that, another victim, Mary Akande, a fish seller, in her own narrative claimed to have lost number of her items which include freezer, generator among others, all said to be running to millions of naira.
“I am still shocked because I was here around 6 a.m. today, I did some cleaning and left to get fuel. At about 8 a.m., a friend called me to say that a tanker had exploded and my shop was on fire. I was helpless when I got here, the guys around tried their best but we could not retrieve anything from the shop. We reached out to the fire service but they got here two hours later’, she stated
Penpushing reports that, in similar vein, a landlord in the area, Gbenga Olafusi, said the trailer fell as a result of the condition of the road, adding that the road is not smooth, and that commuters struggle to pass there on daily basis
‘The road is not smooth and commuters are struggling to pass on a daily basis, so when the tanker got there it lost its balance, fell and caught fire. My tenants have lost goods worth millions of naira to this incident, one of them just moved in with her goods a few days ago’, he said.
“I hope this incident will get the government’s attention to the neglect that we experience over here at Matogbun, Olambe, Legun and other neighbouring communities. We need our road fixed as soon as possible. Thank God my tenants were not inside the shops when the incident happened’, he said
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