Tragedy struck again in the early hours of yesterday in Lagos, as a Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, plant, located along densely populated Candos Road, Baruwa, Ipaja-Ayobo, Old Alimosho Local Government Area, suddenly exploded and engulfed the entire area, killing at least 13 persons.
Several other persns were injured, while properties worth millions of naira were destroyed.
This happened barely two weeks after a similar explosion in Iju-Ishaga area of Lagos left 40 people injured and buildings destroyed.
There were however, conflicting figures of causalities as government officials claimed that eight persons died, but an eyewitness claimed he saw about 13 charred bodies recovered from the scene.
The causalities included who include a women and children.
One of the women, identified as Mrs. Adebowale, 55, died on the Cenotaph of her late husband infront of their building.
She was said to have died while trying to retrieve from the house the money she borrowed as loan from one of the microfinance banks Among the survivors were a mother and two children who were taken to Gbagada General Hospital Burns Unit for medical attention.
It was gathered that an LPG tanker was in the process of discharging it’s content at the Best Roof Gas Plant Station but unfortunately, the station’s generating set was running and in the process sparked which exploded and threw the discharging tanker across the road.
The Director-General, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency LASEMA, Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, who raced to the scene after distress call, attributed the incident to carelessness on the part of the operators.
Giving the post disaster assessment of the explosion, he said a total number of eight bodies were recovered at the scene while 15 victims suffered major burns and have been transferred to Gbagada General Hospital Burns Unit.
Similarly, he said 25 buildings were damaged during the explosion out of which 10 were severely affected.
Also, 16 shops, a private school building and a hotel were razed while a Pentecostal Church, Folem was mildly affected.. He urged residents to report unsavoury and dangerous practices within their neighbourhoods to relevant agencies.
A survivor, Mr. John Ogungbile, 75, a retired British Airways staff, recounted Her ordeal: “We were woken up by a loud bang on our door at about 5am, with a scream, come out fire everywhere, at that instance with my pyjamas on, I ran outside with my children about five of them.
“But we were confused about how to save my ailing wife, 72, who is having health challenge.
“But luckily enough, my daughter managed to back her and escaped to a safe location. We thank God that we were not consumed. But the house was partly affected by the fire.
They also looted my tenant who is having a frozen shop. My phones were also stolen by miscreants who cashed in on the situation to loot.
“This incident would not have happened if the state government had heeded to our earlier 2017 petition to stop the operation of the gas plant in the area. Unfortunately, we were told by government officials to refund the owner of the plant if we do not want the plant located in the area. At this point we gave up.”
Another survivor Mrs. Rukayat Adeyemi who and her family said the incident threw them into panic.
Source: Vanguard
