By Kenechukwu Chukwudi, Awka Times Guest Reporter, at the scene of the incident
An oil tanker exploded today, January 14, 2020, around the Amawbia Awka bypass on the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway in Anambra State, Nigeria, leaving one person dead.
It was a gory site of pain, agony and emotion, as many gathered to see the lone casualty of the tanker explosion, which the late mechanic was said to have been working on before the tanker exploded killing him.
The Director and Chief Fire Officer of Anambra state, Engineer Martins Agbili, noted that they got a distress call from the control room of the Nigerian Police Force, and they quickly mobilized to get to the scene of the tanker explosion and contained the fire.
Engineer Agbili said the cause of the explosion could not be immediately ascertained, but he noted that the tanker which might still contain some flammable substance might have triggered the explosion while being worked on.
He advised workshops to always have fire a prevention or containment plan, and to notify the fire service to be on standby when such work is about to be undertaken, especially when carrying out such work in the early or late hours of the day.
Mr. Emeka Ifejiofor, a member of the public who was passing by when the incident happened, said he couldn’t actually say what caused the fire but guessed that the tanker wasn’t washed properly to prevent the flammable substance from exploding.
Security agencies consisting of the Nigerian Police Force, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps and the Federal Road Safety Commission were seen at the scene providing security and evacuating the lone casualty to hospital.
It may be recalled that a little over a year ago, on February 10, 2019, there was another tanker fire that occurred not far from the scene of the latest mishap, near the Anambra State Governor’s Lodge in Awka, the state capital, in which no fewer than seven persons perished.
