5 Vehicles Burnt As Fire Razes Mobil Petrol Station In Lagos

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News From The State Wednesday, March 19th, 2014

Ayo Balogun, Lagos

It was another bad day at Oba Akran area of Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria on Wednesday as fire razed the Mobil Petrol Station along the road, with five vehicles burnt in the process.

The burnt tanker

An oil tanker, fully loaded with 33,000 litres of fuel wanted to offload its content in the filling station but was finding it difficult to navigate through some vehicles which queued up to buy fuel.

In the process of trying to navigate through the vehicles, the tanker hit a sharp iron which pieced through the tank, which made its content to spill, leading to fire incident, with the filling station burnt completely.

Huge balls of fire billowed into the atmosphere with thick smoke for over three hours as fire fighters battle to salvage the situation but to no avail. The fire started around 6:05 am.

The fire incident led to massive traffic gridlock on Oba Akran, Agege, Ogba, Akilo, among others as motorists diverted to avoid being caught in the inferno.

The Director of the Lagos State Fire Service, Mr. Rasak Fadipe said that the tanker was trying to navigate into the station, but that the vehicles on queue did not allow it, while in the process hit a sharp object which pierced the tanker, with the content spilling on the ground before it caught fire.

“The fire spread and burnt five vehicles and several electric poles. One of the burning pole fell on a man and wounded him serious, as he was taken to the hospital by the Lagos State Ambulance Services. We are advising Lagosians not to crowd around scenes of fire disasters for safety purpose,” he stated.

According to him, fire service men raced to the scene on time with five fire trucks with each carrying 10,000 litres of water from five of its fire stations, such as Ilupeju, Ikeja, Agege and Isolo, saying that the water was mixed with chemical to quell the fire as ordinary water could not quell the fire of such magnitude.

Spokesperson, National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, said “A massive fire outbreak occurred at Mobil Filling Station at the Oba Akran junction. It started around 6:05 am this morning which began with a tanker loaded with 33,000 litres of fuel and was trying to enter the filling station but vehicles on queue did not allow it free access and in the process, an iron punctured the tanker leading to the fire. One person was injured by a PHCN pole that fell down on person due to the fire affected the pole,” he said.