The fire may have died down and the smoke stopped rising to the skies but what remains clear is that the last has not been heard about the fire incident in Onitsha which consumed a couple of houses and caused extensive damage running into millions of naira.
According to an eye-witness who spoke to sabinews, a tanker driver driving a MACK petrol tanker with registration number ABB 44 XA suffered a brake failure and in trying to bring the car to a halt climbed over the kerb right opposite Dennis Memorial Grammar School (DMGS) by Upper Iweka.
The tanker fell over and caught fire before spilling its content and setting fire to a nearby Mobil filling station. The fire also affected a popular shopping mall, KAMO Plaza and about 5 houses. Several cars were also consumed in the inferno that raged for hours before being contained.
The eye-witness who spoke to Sabi News said it was a clear case of bad luck.
“You know Igbo people have a common saying, “onye ekotero, ogodo ya ekotelu ya” and this was a clear case of bad luck,” the eye-witness who did not wish to be named said.
“The supermarket, the filling station and all the houses and cars that gut burnt were just bad luck, I tell you. The fuel tanker was already at the roundabout when it failed brake and as the driver struggled to stop the truck it fell over and next thing, fire.
“Some of this people sef do not know what caused the problem. It is really sad and if fire service came on time maybe something would have happened.”
The tanker driver is believed to have fled the scene. Meanwhile those who lost cars and property are bemoaning their fate and trying to pick the pieces.
Attempts to contact the two of the biggest losers, the owners of the Mobil filling station and Kamo Plazawas for comment were not successful.
