39 burn to death in Lagos explosion - Lagos puts death toll at 14 - Many vehicles, houses razed - 16 die on Ondo-Akure express road

From Sulaimon Olanrewaju, Olalekan Olabulo, Adelowo Oladipo, Seun Ayantokun, Kunle Awosiyan, Komolafe Rasheed and chechukwu Olisah - 16.05.2008

AT least 39 people were killed and scores injured when fuel from a pipeline ruptured by an earthmover building a road caught fire.
Unconfirmed reports, however, put the death toll at 100.

“Several people have so far been confirmed dead from the fire. We have so far rescued more than 20 people with injuries and taken them to hospital for treatment,” one Red Cross official at the scene of the fire told Reuters.

He said volunteers were trying to rescue people still trapped in their burning homes. Most of the deaths and injuries resulted from a stampede caused by the fire.

However, some Lagos State government sources put the death toll at 14.

The accident happened about eight days after a similar accident destroyed properties worth millions of naira in Lagos.

The fire, which broke out when a tractor grading the Ijegun-Isolo road inadvertently dug up an NNPC pipeline at 10 o’clock in the morning, also gutted 22 cars as well as 15 houses and many makeshift shops.

The fire accident effectively ground to a halt all commercial activities in the area. Schoolchildren had to be rushed out of their schools to save them from being consumed by the fire.

One of the victims of the pipeline fire, a daughter of the monarch of the town, was said to be attending to customers in her shop when the fire engulfed her.

She was burnt with her child strapped on her back. A neighbour who responded to her call for help and tried to rescue the baby on her back was also consumed by the fire.

Confirming the fire accident, Alhaji Abdusalam Mohammed, Assistant Zonal Coordinator, National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), SouthWest, who was one of those on the ground trying to put out the fire, said, “road construction activity was going on in the morning when the tractor driver mistakenly dug up one of the pipes of NNPC conveying diesel.

“Because the exhaust of the earth-moving equipment was already hot and because of the pressure and speed at which the diesel was passing through the pipe, it gushed out with full force and spread all over the equipment and exploded instantly.

The man was the first casualty, he got burnt beyond recognition and the fire started spreading all over the place.

“So far, confirmed casualty is 10, including a two-year old baby. Thirty six people are injured and they are all in the hospital. The remains of the dead have been deposited in the mortuary.”

Meanwhile, the state police command has drafted several teams of police officers to the scene of the incident to forestall looting by hoodlums who may hide under the guise of rescuing the victims.

The rescue operation at the scene of the incident as at Thursday afternoon was greatly impaired by the ravaging fire that prevented workers from the Nigerian Civil Defence Corps, Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS) and the men of the state fire service from performing effectively.

The Public Administration Manager of the Pipeline and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), Ralph Ugwu, while confirming the accident to the Nigerian Tribune, said rescue team from the PPMC had been drafted to the scene of the incident.

Meanwhile, Lagos State government has expressed its sympathy to the residents of Ijegun area of the state over the explosion.

Briefing members of the press at the state secretariat on Thursday evening, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Information and Strategy, Mr. Segun Ayobolu, described the incident as sorrowful, adding that the state government would employ all strategies to make sure such a thing did not occur in future.

Ayobolu, who was accompanied by the Commissioner for Home Affairs and Culture, Alhaji Babatunde Balogun, and Senior Special Assistant to the governor on media, Mr. Akeem Bello, stated that government had directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to divert the course of the petrol to reduce the intensity of the fire.

According to him, all rescue agencies of the state government were at the scene of the event to manage the disaster, adding: “At present, we have 25 officials of the state ambulance Service, 20 vehicles of the state Rapid Response Squad with their men, seven fire trucks adequately filled with water and fire extinguishers, officials of the state Emergency Management Agency and officials of the state Traffic Management Agency.”

Ayobolu urged residents of the area to be law-abiding, calling on them not to be emotional about the situation but to support government to jointly proffer solution to the sad event.

In another tragic incident, 16 persons, including a female member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and her daughter, on Thursday died in an accident that took place on the Benin-Akure road.

The accident, which reportedly occurred at Kilometre 6, Benin- Akure road, around 7.00 a.m. provoked wailings from thousands of sympathisers who thronged the scene.

Two vehicles, an 18-seater bus travelling to Benin from Akure and a Peugeot 504 station wagon, were involved in the accident.

Pools of blood and mangled human flesh were found in the wreckage of the accident.

Fifteen of the deceased, comprising seven females and nine men, died on the spot while one died later in a hospital. Six people who sustained varying degrees of injury and the bodies of the dead were taken to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital.

The Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Benin Tollgate Unit, Mr. Uzor Chukwuma, who led the rescue operation, said the corps member and her toddler were in an 18-seater bus.

Uzor gave the registration number of the bus, which belonged to the NYSC, as FGN 358 G58 while he said the number plate of the taxi could not be found.

According to him, the FRSC had been making effort to get in touch with the families of the dead and the injured, adding that the belongings of the accident victims had been deposited at the Benin Tollgate Unit Command of the FRSC.