How 24 Nigerians Were Burnt To Death In Tanker Explosion

Fresh facts have emerged on how more than twenty persons were roasted alive when a tanker laden with petroleum products burst into flames after it exploded at Koko Junction in the ever-busy Benin, Sapele High Way in Ethiope West Local Government Area of Edo State in South-South Nigeria.

According to an eye witness who spoke to our correspondent on the telephone, the driver of the tanker would have avoided the accident if he had been cautious at the bad spot on the junction.

“The driver fell into a gutter but that road is bad and he ought to have been very careful. He was not careful at that spot and that made him fall with his tanker.
“I was close to that place doing shopping when I heard a loud bang and the next thing was fire everywhere.

“We normally have such incidents there and that is why vehicles, particularly the articulated ones, must be very careful.
“Because it was sudden, a lot of vehicles on that road could not see how to escape and that is also because the road is not very good.
“All of them were burnt and that is how so many people died.

“I personally counted more than twenty bodies and I am very sure that the least that could have died in the fire will be twenty-four.
“In one of the burning vehicles, onlookers could see trapped occupants yelling, shouting, and battling for their lives as the fire from spills of the tanker was raging seriously.”

On whether the men of the fire service did not respond immediately, he said they might have been delayed by traffic, but commended their efforts in putting out the fire eventually.
“If you look at how the fire was raging, it was difficult for anyone to get close and that is why so many people were helpless in assisting those trapped in their vehicles
“But the fire service tried though they did not arrive on time maybe because of traffic.
“But immediately they arrived, they worked tirelessly to stop the fire,” says the eye witness named Chika, an undergraduate of the University of Benin, who is staying with his parents in the Edo State capital due to the lockdown on academic activities in the Nigerian ivory towers, saying more than fifteen vehicles were burnt in the process.