One person is feared dead and properties worth billions were destroyed in an explosion on Otedola Bridge in Lagos yesterday evening.
The tragic incident involving a tanker loaded with petroleum products occurred at 8:08 p.m.
While officials said there was no casuality, an eyewitness in one of the videos emerging from the scene claimed that one person was trapped in the fire. When a co-spectator expressed hope that nobody was k!lled in the fire, he said in Yoruba: “One person was affected. The person is behind that pole.”
The Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service Director, Mrs Margaret Adeseye, disclosed that the fire affected a church, an adjoining bungalow, and four vehicles.
According to eyewitnesses, the tanker, a 30-tonne DAF gas truck with an unknown registration number, was navigating the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway when the explosion occurred.
Motorists who happened to be around at the time quickly made a U-turn to avoid being caught up in the inferno. Some left their cars and ran out of the vicinity of the accident to save their lives.
Firefighters arrived at the scene of the accident shortly after it happened and they fought the fire all night to prevent it from spreading to the houses nearby.
Agencies represented at the scene included the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), the State Fire Service, and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
Adeseye, said, “The Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service is currently attending to a fire resulting from a tanker accident outward Otedola Bridge, Omole, Lagos, at about 8 p.m. While firefighting operations are ongoing, there has been no record of casualties, with further updates to follow.”
LASEMA’s Head of Public Affairs, Boss Okunbo, confirmed that their team were at the scene.
See clips from the scene here.
