NNPC Petrol Tanker Exploded In Ibadan Injures Four

There was pandemonium on Tuesday at the Orogun Junction along Iwo Road/Ojoo Expressway, Ibadan, as a fuel tanker belonging to Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) exploded and caught fire while trying to offload fuel from another tanker.

In the inferno, the Director of Fire Services in the state, Oyekunle Kareem, whose officers and men battled for hours to put off the fire, confirmed that four persons were injured in the incident.

He also disclosed that eight shops were torched, while two Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV) were burnt to ashes by the inferno.

 

But, for the quick appearance of the Fire Services personnel, the incident, which occurred beside Energy filling station in the area, could have wrecked more and devastating havoc.

Eyewitness account and a driver plying the Ojoo-Iwo Road route told our reporter that a fuel loaded tanker of NNPC had fallen off the road and in order to prevent its content from being wasted, another tanker belonging to the same organisation was brought to off load the content and it was in the process that the tanker caught fire.

While the driver could not vividly explain how the fire started, it was gathered that the fire started in the process of technical transfer of the fuel from the fallen tanker to an empty one.

The injured persons, who sustained serious degrees of burns, were rushed to the hospital with an Oyo State ambulance dispatched to the scene.

The air was rented with very tick and heavy smoke as the firemen battled to contain, while most shops and car owners made frantic efforts to protect their belongings.

There was traffic gridlock as the expressway was blocked, leaving only one lane for road users plying the two lanes, as the Iwo road to Ojoo section, on which the incident occurred, was totally blocked.