UPDATED: Five dead, 70 vehicles bunt in Rivers fuel tanker explosion

Five people were burnt to death and over 70 vehicles including heavy-duty trucks were destroyed following a multiple explosion at the Eleme section of the East-West Road in Rivers State on Friday night. The spokesperson for the State Police Command, Grace Iringe-Koko, told journalists on Saturday, that five people have been confirmed dead, adding that […]

Five people were burnt to death and over 70 vehicles including heavy-duty trucks were destroyed following a multiple explosion at the Eleme section of the East-West Road in Rivers State on Friday night.

The spokesperson for the State Police Command, Grace Iringe-Koko, told journalists on Saturday, that five people have been confirmed dead, adding that the Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu, and his team were on the ground last night to ensure there was no breakdown of law and order.

It was gathered that a tanker laden with petroleum products exploded and busted into flames, affecting other vehicles in the area which is known for its gridlock.

The incident started at about 9:15pm adjacent the Indorama Petrochemical Company located along the Akpojo-Onne axis of the East-West Road leading to some critical national assets.

A source living in Akpajo, Eleme LGA said he heard a deafening sound twice from his residence with accompanying voices suggesting something sinister.

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The source said, “I heard a very loud sound about 20 minutes ago, and people were shouting.

“The sound came from the Petro-Chemical company area. So when I came out I saw a tick smoke with fire from a distance.”

Following the incident, it was gathered that hundreds of travellers and passengers were stranded as the road leads to Akwa Ibom, Cross River and others.

 

‘How we escaped’

An eyewitness, Gabriel Obolongong, narrated how he escaped from the inferno with his friends, saying he had to make an immediate detour and headed towards Oyigbo Eleme link road to escape from the incident.

He said, “Driving towards the bridge along Eleme Road, we witnessed traffic build-up. It was terrific.

“We snailed on in the very tight traffic jam till we managed to cross the bridge and manoeuvred our way close to Ecobank on the opposite side of the road.

“But we both had an inner compulsion to make a swift U-turn by every means possible. As we were struggling to effect the turn, we heard an explosion about a hundred meters from us accompanied by infernal fire.

“The first instinct was to abandon our car and scurry along with others, because, though we had effectively made a U-turn, we were jammed with other immobile vehicles.

“Sounds of more cars exploding and fire gushing them towards our direction became more ferocious and dreadful, but the urge not to abandon our car was very compelling.

“As sounds of more exploding vehicle blasts kept approaching us, the more we had difficulty attempting to snail off the raging fire until we eventually crossed the bridge and veered into Eleme community, took straight to Oyigbo at about 9.45pm and returned home unscathed.”

 

Construction company blamed

In the meantime, motorists plying the route have blamed the incident on a construction firm handling the east-west road project.

A motorist who regularly plied the route blamed the construction firm for the accident.

The source who identified himself as Jacob said the inability of the construction firm to provide an alternative route was responsible for the accident.

“The construction company would have provided an alternative route to divert traffic from the construction site. The major cause of heavy traffic gridlock witnessed on the road was as a result of the construction work going on there.

“If they had provided an alternative route, we would not have witnessed the kind of traffic of this nature there and this incident would have been averted,” he said.

A victim of the incident who lost two of his properties along the stretch of the road said that they were collating data on the victims of the incident.

The victim who pleaded anonymity said that the victims of the incident would take legal action against the construction firm.