National Wire About Nigerians, Nigerian Business and Other Stories
No fewer than about 49 shops, 4 residential houses and two motorcycles have been burnt down completely by an explosion following an accident, involving a fuel laden tanker and an articulated trailer, at Lambata in Gurara local government area of Niger State, late on Sunday night.
The explosion which took place in the late hours of Sunday after a tanker laden with Premium Motor Spirit(PMS ),collided with an open body trailer
The tanker driver who was allegedly on his way from Suleja axis of the road was said to have lost control in what was feared to be break failure and rammed into the trailer which was coming from Minna and heading towards Suleja.
The collision led to an explosion, which affected the shops and the residential building by the road sides, as goods estimated at several millions of naira were also said to have been burnt into ashes.
One of the affected persons, Julian Aluko, a widow with six children said she lost all her goods and wondered how she will be able to cope with her her loss in conjunction with her children.
“I couldn’t pick anything from my shop. Not even a pin. I have six children and now I just don’t know how I will train them. My husband is dead and since then, it is from the shop that I trained my children,” Aluko lamented
Another trader, Friday Amaechi whose four shops were completely razed down expressed regrets about his losses, describing it as an eternal scar on him that he would never heal from till his death.
“My four shops that i have laboured for for years to stock piled goods, have all gone. In fact, i am short of words. I don’t know where to go. I am owing many people some money because I collected the goods on credit,” he said.
Chairman , Gurara local government area of the state, Hon. Yusuf Wali blamed the incident on the recklessness of tanker drivers who also parked their vehicles indiscriminately by the road sides.
He said despite concerted efforts by his administration to stop the ugly trends , the tanker drivers have refused to heed to the directives.
When our reporter was,at the scene of the accident, to asses the level of damage were officials of both the Niger State Emergency Management Agency( NSEMA), led by the Director General, Alhaji Ahmed Ibrahim Inga, in conjunction with the National Emergency Management Agency( NEMA).
Mr Inga said, “The Governor has directed that we carry out assessment of the situation, and that is what we have done. No life has been lost, but two trucks, two motorcycles, 49 shops and four residential apartments with sixteen rooms have been burnt down. It is really unfortunate what has happened, but we we believe the state government will come to their aid. In the meantime, I urge the victims to remain calm.”
This is not the first time such an incident will occur at Lambata. In 2004 when a tanker was affect with fire, at least three persons were killed.
The state government in recent time had issued a directive warning tanker drivers against indiscriminate parking of their vehicles. But, not much has been done in enforcing the directive as the trend has continued.
Photo is just for illustration, it’s from another incident.
