Mother, granddaughter, two others fie, as petrol tanker explodes in ogun

ABIODUN TAIWO, ABEOKUTA

A female trader alongside one of her granddaughters and two other unknown person were burnt to death in the petroleum tanker fire explosion which occurred at the popular Lafenwa Market in Abeokuta metropolis, the Ogun State capital on Sunday.

While the female trader suspected to be in her mid 50s and simply identified as “Iya Maggi” and her 10-years old granddaughters identified as Mistura lost their lives, five personnel of the State and Federal Fire Services working towards extinguishing the fire were also brutalized by the protesting street urchins and miscreants who later stormed the scene of the explosion, protesting the lack of water excuse tendered by leaders of the Fire Services, before started to loot stalls in the market.

Several other kiosks, particularly at the butchers and yam sellers’ sections of the market were also burnt down by the early morning disaster witnessed in the metropolis.

Trouble started when a petroleum tanker truck laden with 33, 000 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) overturned around 1a.m Sunday morning at the railway crossing section of the market, spilling its content which streamed down the market roads.

But while attempts were being made by the owners to trans load the content, miscreants and urchins, who naturally hibernated in the market, trooped out and started scooping the content.

The development later degenerated into a face-off as the miscreants started stoning the law enforcing agents with pebbles and broken bottles before the eventual explosion from the fallen tanker truck around 6a.m. when the entire area went up in flame.

The development attracted top leaderships of the security agencies in the state, which included the Police, Directorate of the State Security Service as well as the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), who eventually evacuated the corpses of the victims to the morgue.

Speaking with newsmen, the Operational Commander of the Federal Fire Services in Ogun State, Paul Ilesanmi explained that five of his men were brutalized and had to rum for their lives, while one of the Fire Fighting truck was also vandalized.

Also speaking with newsmen, the State Commissioner of Police, ‘Lanre Bankole said the police had to cordons off the roads and the market in order to prevent the miscreants from further taking advantage of the incident to perpetrate atrocities.

Bankole, who acknowledged that the situation was initially though, however, maintain that the police has been able to bring the situation under control, while traffic would still be diverted from the area to an alternative route.