Six buildings, 21 vehicles burnt as tanker explodes
Thursday, May 8, 2008

Pandemonium broke out along the busy Ikorodu road expressway, at Jibowu Yaba area of Lagos State on Wednesday when a 15-ton tanker loaded with substances suspected to be chemical hit a BRT pole, somersaulted and went up in flames.



•IKORODU FIRE
Photo: Sun News Publishing

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The fire produced by the explosion gutted at least six houses, 21 vehicles and other items whose value was estimated at millions of naira. But no life was lost.

The confusion led to traffic gridlock for over six hours on the major highway and other adjoining roads in the area.

Funke Adedokun, who resides at 4, Ojelade street, said nothing was salvaged from the house, as the inferno consumed three of her husband’s cars, including a Kia Jeep with registration number DD 777 JJJ, Mercedes Benz V-Boot car, AG 585 LSR and a 504 station wagon marked BC 964 AAA.

“When we heard fire! Fire!!, we could not come out. But all of us were able to escape through the fence,” she said almost in tears.

A transport company, Ground Air Travel, lost three vehicles – two Ram buses worth N4 million each and a Mercedes Benz car belonging to the transport manager, Obiora Njaka.

Emmanuel Ajare, a driver, whose new Toyota Hiace mini-bus, marked XA 886 AGD was burnt, narrated that he was sleeping in the vehicle when he heard the explosion.

An eyewitness, Paul Edima, a taxi driver, who gave a graphic account on how the inferno happened, said: “We were loading in the park when suddenly I saw this tanker veering off the road. We stated running for our dear lives. I ran and ran as my legs could carry me. Suddenly I heard a loud bang and smoke engulfed everywhere.”

Edima said that several people were wounded while trying to escape from the wild tongue of the rapacious fire.

The driver of the ill-fated tanker was said to have escaped death by the whiskers from angry mob which wanted to lynch him.

“People chased after him, but he succeeded in escaping from the angry mob,” Edima told Daily Sun.

A police officer, who was at the scene of the incident, confirmed to Daily Sun that the force has declared a manhunt for the fleeing tanker driver, “at least to know what actually happened and to know where he loaded and to ascertain the content he was carrying.”

Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr Frank Mba, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said 21 vehicles were burnt while six buildings, all storey building, were also burnt.

Mba explained that one of the buildings was completely razed, while others were damaged. He explained that the incident was being investigated by the police.

He said: “Because of the colossal damage caused by the accident, the police are not going to treat the matter with levity. We will be discrete and meticulous in our investigations.

Mba attributed most of the road accident to fatigue and poor maintenance culture, among others.

He said the government, especially the Lagos State government, had tried to reduce road accidents, citing the setting up the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA) as an example.

Prof. Idowu Sobowale, Head of Mass Communication, Olabisi Onabanjo University, who visited one of the affected houses owned by his late uncle, Alhaji Amidu Sobowale, described the incident as most unfortunate.

“All the tenants have been rendered homeless,” he lamented.

Meanwhile, Lagos State Physical Planning and Urban Development Authority has sealed off four of the houses affected by the fire. In a related development, a Honda Saloon car marked BE 660 BDG on Wednesday plunged into Ogun River in Ikorodu, killing the driver, identified as Gilbert Omosobe.

The car was pulled out from the river and the body of the victim deposited at the mortuary.

http://odili.net/news/source/2008/may/8/515.html

Tragedy in Lagos
Friday, May 16, 2008

Pipeline fire consumes hundreds

Mother dashes into ball fire, dies with child

School children die in stampede

Roasted bodies pose fresh hazard

By Yakubu Lawal, Yetunde Ebosele, Regina Akpabio, Alex Olise, Seyi Olumide and Chiemerem Umenne
IT was one disaster too many in Lagos yesterday as man-made error brought pain, anguish and sorrow crashing down on several families.


People attempt to put out flames in Ijegun village near Lagos on the outskirts of Lagos, Thursday, May 15, 2008. Flames from a ruptured fuel pipeline swept through homes and a school in the village Thursday, killing about 100 people and injuring some 20 others, a Red Cross official said.
(AP Photo) 




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The tragedy, a fire out-break, which occurred at 11.00 a.m., was allegedly caused by an earth-mover grading a road in Ijegun, Ikotun in Alimosho Local Council, which ruptured a pipeline carrying fuel to a depot in Ogun State.

The incident took place at a time the global community is still reeling from natural disasters in Myammar and China, where a cyclone and a quake snuffed out thousands of lives in their prime.

Perhaps, nothing catches the horror of the incident better than the spectre of a mother who attempted to rescue her child from the inferno. She jumped into the ball of fire in which the child was caught and perished too.

Thick smoke engulfed the area and the cries of mothers wailing for their missing or dead children rent the air. A few metres from the scene of disaster and the adjoining streets, charred bodies, carcasses of vehicles and burnt houses confront a visitor to the area.

In four of the streets worst affected, dead bodies of children and adults littered the ground.

The death toll could not be ascertained at press time yesterday because the thick smoke and raging fire made access to the actual spot impossible. Many shocked but hapless residents wept uncontrollably as bodies of the victims were evacuated.

Unconfirmed reports said that the bodies of 22 pupils in one of the three schools razed by the fire had been recovered.

Witnesses said that the pupils, trapped in the heavy smoke, screamed for help until they died of suffocation.

Even some daring mothers, who heard the news and rushed to the scene to search for or rescue their children, did not come out alive. One of them allegedly died with a baby strapped to her back.

Other victims were artisans, petty traders and residents, who were caught up in the flame that spread to their houses and workplaces.

It was indeed a dark Thursday for pupils and students of Ijegun Comprehensive High School and Ijegun Nursery and Primary School as well as the residents of this area.

The construction company, which work reportedly led to the incident, was identified as Hi-Tech.

One account said about 10 people lost their lives on the spot, while others died at the General Hospitals in Ikeja, Isolo and Ijegun.

One Mr. James Oyeyola, who said he was involved in the rescue mission when the incident happened, said most of the pupils affected were as a result of the stampede caused by the explosion.

He told The Guardian that several shops and shopkeepers, including a woman selling palm wine in the area with her baby on her back, was consumed in the inferno.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Mrs. Ajoke Adefalure, who hails from the area, said she had alerted the PPMC and other emergency response agencies of the incident.

Also speaking to The Guardian, Lekan Adeola, representing Alimosho Constituency in the Lagos State House of Assembly, who was at the scene, said the chief medical directors of the General Hospitals in Ikeja, Ijegun and Isolo were contacted and put on alert over the incident before the casualties were taken there.

The ruptured pipelines transport products from the Atlas Cove jetty of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to the Mosimi Depot in Sagamu in Ogun State.

The facility is managed by Pipelines Product and Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of the NNPC. Speaking on the incident in a chat with The Guardian, the Head of Public Affairs of PPMC, Mr. Ralph Ugwu, said a rescue team from the company had been dispatched to the scene to put out the fire.

"The incident happened around Ijegun in Ikotun, we heard that a earth-mover constructing a road along the Isheri axis of Ijegun ruptured the pipes, which immediately burst into flames," he said.

Ugwu explained that the PPMC had suspended pumping of fuel from the Atlas Cove to Mosimi to curtail the raging fire.

"Right now, we have shut down the Atlas Cove lines and our engineers as well as fire-fighters have been mobilised to the site of the incident," Ugwu said

According to him, further pumping of products on the affected lines had been shut down pending when the situation would improve.

He stated that PPMC was not contacted before the said road construction started, adding that the affected portion being within the right-of-way of PPMC, any work on such location should have the permission or consent of the company.

According to him, the management of the company would evaluate the damage after putting out the fire and if possible take necessary legal action against the construction firm for encroaching on its right-of-way without the consent of PPMC.

Residents hurriedly closed their shops, children in schools ran for safety leaving their shoes and bags in the streets.

One of the sympathisers, Sadulai Jimoh, said: "Many children have died. In fact, you cannot even count them. Some of them were choked by the smoke, others crushed by the concrete fence of the school while some were suffocated in an attempt to rush out.

"When it started, they tried to make holes through the fence for them to escape but since some of them were already leaning on the wall, the wall collapsed on them. At least I helped to carry 10 dead bodies," he said.

Another resident said: "The place is a busy area so nobody can really say who is dead or not. This place is a sloppy place and when the fuel was flowing out of the pipe, it went towards people's homes and shops. A line of shops has been burnt. Some of the shop-owners have been burnt while some sustained various degrees of injuries."

As at 5.00 p.m. yesterday, the fire was still burning while the smoke engulfed the neighbourhood forcing many residents to vacate their homes.

The Lagos Police Command spokesperson, Mr. Frank Mba, said yesterday that the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr. Marvel Akpoyibo, had deployed armed policemen to the scene to assist in the ongoing rescue operation.

He said the death toll might be high but the command was still trying to get the accurate figures.

As the fire continued raging, hundreds of residents, whose houses were close to the scene, started removing their belongings to areas perceived to be safer.

Some of the sympathisers described the incident as the worst so far witnessed in the series of pipeline disasters in the state.


http://odili.net/news/source/2008/may/16/23.html

Two tragedies under one week!

What is the state fire service doing below? fanning the flame or extinguishing the fire?

Lets boycott ExxonMobil.

Tragedies here and there.
poor souls lost,may they find peace,i pray.

all the dead rest in peace. all the hurt, hope u get better.

Wow. 2 in one week?? Is there some sort of connection I do hope the government is also working on disaster relief as he does other things in that state. I pray all goes well for these people o.

may their souls r.i.p, the case of the school children's particularly sad,wonder why a pipeline will be near a school or residencial area anyway,onli GOD knows what vandalism will cause in agos

May the Good Lord compensate any one who has lost a family member, firend and etc

God help us in this country