Just in: Fuel tanker explodes, razes down over 40 buildings in Onitsha
A fuel tanker along Iweka Street, exploded on Wednesday, burning over 40 buildings in Onitsha.
A woman and a baby died while no fewer than forty buildings, ranging from two storey to four-storey buildings while over five hundred lock-up shops gutted by the fire.
Vanguard reports that the incident started when a tanker laden with Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, otherwise known as fuel, descending from the Ziks roundabout end of Onitsha Enugu expressway, lost control from Eastern Academy Secondary School opposite Toronto Hospital Onitsha, and veered off the service lane, with the fuel tanker falling off the truck head and splashing fuel all over the area which immediately caught fire.
According to an eye witness, the fire started at about 10 am and had no fire servicemen from any part of Anambra state to the rescue, none of the markets in Onitsha and Local Government, as usual had any functional Fire Service station to respond to the ugly situation, as people were helplessly looking at their houses, shops, goods and flats burning down.
The drama continued when two toilet drilling tankers started using the faeces mixed with water they were carrying to dump sites were forced by the youths to use it to put off the fire, which they tried but with little success as the fire continued to rage towards Ochanja market.
