Two dead, houses, vehicles razed as tanker falls on bridge in Lagos

At least one house was completely razed while several oth­ers were partially burnt as a truck laden with fuel fell on Ojuelegba Bridge, along Funsho Williams Avenue and spilled its content in the early hours of Saturday.

Sources also claimed that two people, a woman and a year old child died during the incident.
Sources informed Sunday Sun that the truck which was heading towards Ikorodu axis of the state from Apapa was ascending the bridge when the driver suddenly lost control of the vehicle.
The driver, it was alleged, was struggling to overtake another truck driver when the truck reportedly fell and spilled its content on the bridge.

The spillage, it was gath­ered dripped on four com­mercial buses parked directly under the bridge. The vehicles were said to have caught fire moments later, but the fire was later put out by officials of the fire service who Sunday Sun gathered had positioned themselves ahead of the fire out break.
The content of the truck later flowed into a nearby ca­nal and traveled down to other parts of the community.

Although the accident was said to have happened at about 1.00 am, our correspondent gathered that it was expertly managed by officials of the fire service until 5.00 am when the major fire which razed a building situated on 19 Allen Street, off Ajoke Dosu­mu Street, was said to have started from Akintan axis of the canal.

A security guard who gave his name as Awoye Kayode told one of our correspondents that operatives of the fire ser­vice alerted the community immediately after the accident happened and advised them on precautionary steps to be taken.

“But before then, the smell of fuel had rented the air of the entire community which made many people to keep vigil un­til about 4.00 am before most of them went to sleep. But im­mediately after the 5.00 am prayers, we just observed that the fire had started raging from the other end of the canal.
“Immediately I noticed that, I raised the alarm and people started rushing out from their homes. Before we knew it, the fire had engulfed this building and razed it down completely. But for the prompt response of fire service men who were around, many more houses would have been burnt,” Awoye disclosed.

Eyewitnesses told Sunday Sun that a number of residents sustained various degrees of injuries as they tried to escape from the raging inferno.
About three hours after the first fire was put out, another fire was said to have broken out, throwing the residents into another round of commotion. The second fire, according to an eyewitness who simply gave his name as Lukumon, started from the same direc­tion where the first fire started from.
The fire which ravaged through the over 1,500m long canal, our correspondent ob­served, also affected some of the buildings sited on the edge of the canal.

The Director of Lagos State Fire Services, Razaq Idowu Fadipe blamed the inferno on people who smoked along the canal. “The fire must have been from people that were smoking along the canal. I took it upon myself to go through the canal and warned the boys that were smoking. I didn’t know that they would continue with the act until the outbreak of the fire. As at now, we have been able to put the fire under control. The trucks deployed are still in control of the incident.

The member represent­ing Surulere Constituency 1, Desmond Elliot however confirmed to one of our cor­respondents that two people actually died during the in­cident. “So far now, just two lives were lost, not directly but because they have been ill. I have gone to the hospital to see the remains of the woman, and I also met with her family. And that is pretty sad. I learnt she was asthmatic. I also un­derstand that a one-year-old child also passed on,” Elliot disclosed.
Source:The Sun