Narrow escape as tanker explodes on highway

• Driver was trying to avoid a pothole on Oshodi-Apapa Expressway
• Six killed, 12 injured in Kogi auto crash

For some fleeting moments yesterday, it was like Armageddon struck in Lagos near Charity bus-stop, along Oshodi-Apapa expressway, when a 33,000 litres tanker fully loaded with diesel crashed on a car, leading to a fire outbreak around 4:00p.m.

Sources said the tanker, with registration number TUT 258 XA, belonging to Bovas Petroleum, crashed on the BMW car with registration number, LSD 462 CZ, while driving inward Toyota bus-stop of the expressway. The incident led to spillage of the entire content, suspected to be diesel on the busy highway, thereby leading to an explosion.

Though no life was lost, an eyewitness told The Guardian that the tanker driver was trying to avoid a pothole and in the process, collided with the car in front.

“Immediately the tanker collided with the car, I saw a man crawling out from the back seat of the car. People shouted that he should run very fast. It was moments after he left the crash site that the tanker exploded.”

It was gathered that other occupants of the car and the driver of the tanker also managed to make a narrow escape from the scene.

When The Guardian visited the scene, both vehicles involved in the accident had burnt to ashes and men of the Lagos State Fire Service and Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) response team were seen frantically trying to put out the fire. Policemen were also seen trying to maintain law and order and direct traffic, which had built up on both lanes of the expressway.

“No live was lost”, an official of LASEMA said when contacted. “Recovery operation ongoing by our men at the scene,” the official added.

Meanwhile, six persons were not so lucky, as they lost their lives yesterday while 12 others were injured in an auto crash at Osara village on Lokoja-Okene road in Kogi State.

Villagers told newsmen that the accident, which occurred around 9:00a.m., involved three vehicles – a truck, a Toyota Hiace bus and a Nissan Primera car.
According to the eyewitnesses, the truck and Toyota bus had a head on collision while the Nissan Primera car rammed into them.

The Sector Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Mr Segun Martins, confirmed the report, adding that the six victims died on the spot.

He said the 12 persons, who were critically injured were evacuated to the Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja for further treatment, while the six corpses were deposited in the hospital’s morgue.

Martins added that the truck was registered Kano XF 156 FGE while the Toyota Hiace passenger bus carried Kano XC 581 DGE, and the Nissan, also conveying passengers, was registered Kogi KPF 369 AA.