Scores of Commuters Perish in Rivers State Petrol Tanker Explosion

It was a disaster of unimaginable magnitude Friday night, along the Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals and Aleto bridge area of East -West road, as explosion from an accidented petrol tanker which leaked petrol on the long stretch of traffic claimed many lives and destroyed vehicles.

The incident that occurred at about 8pm burnt to death scores of commuters who were trapped in their vehicles on the heavy traffic jam on the East-West road undergoing reconstruction by the federal government in front of Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals gate.

Witnesses accounts had it that the incident was caused by a leakage from a petrol tanker after it crashed into another truck said to belong to Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals and loaded with another type of product.

The eyewitness at the scene of incident explained that the fire engulfed many vehicles trapped in the long traffic jam, thereby burning to death occupants of the vehicles.

Another witness at the scene of incident Saturday morning, explained that the poor management of traffic by the contractor handling the reconstruction of the Eleme Junction – One axis of the East -West road led to the level of casualties.

He said the contractor should be held responsible for the horrific accident, lamented the death of a pregnant woman and many other victims who were trapped in the inferno and burnt beyond recognition.

The eyewitness who did not disclose his name but said he is a Health Safety Environment staff of a company around the area lamented that the situation was aggravated by unreadiness of vehicle owners to heed safety instructions to switch of their engines and disembark from their vehicles.

The eyewitness said he was able to witness the whole incident because of the lateness of their official bus that was to convey them from his company. He said maybe they would have also been caught in the fire if the bus had arrived on time.

“You know, as people were desperate to maneuver their ways out of the traffic caused by the two trucks, explosion sparked off from one point away from the accident point but followed the fuel to return to the trucks.

“The fire did not start from the two trucks. When we saw the accident and the petrol leaking from the tanker, we tried to stop people from further movement around there, but as Keke, bikes and other drivers were desperately trying to maneuver away from the heavy traffic the fire exploded from somewhere and continued catching vehicles on the long queue of traffic.

“Unfortunately, because of the heavy traffic congestion fire trucks either from the Port Harcourt Refinery or even Indorama Petrochemicals here could not come to fight the fire because there is no access for them to reach the scene of the fire”.

THISDAY observed at the scene of incident, that all categories of vehicles were affected by the accident including private vehicles, commercial buses and trucks with several victims trapped in their vehicles and burnt to ashes.

As at Saturday morning, vehicular movement along axis of the incident was totally blocked causing pedestrians to resort to long trekking to cross the Aleto bridge area or get to Akpajo junction to continue their journey depending on which side of the road they are traveling.

Meanwhile, Governor Siminalayi Fubara, has described the fire incident caused by a tanker conveying premium motor spirit (Petrol) as unfortunate. 

Governor Fubara who visited the scene of incident yesterday morning, alongside the State Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu, and the State Commissioner for Energy and Natural Resources, Mr Uchechukwu Nwafor, expressed sadness at the gory sights of the victims corpses.

The Governor explained that he got a call from the Managing Director of Indorama Petrochemical and Fertiliser Company Limited in Eleme Local Government Area, informing him of the incident.

At the news of the incident, Fubara stated that he immediate routed a call to the security agencies and instructed that they visit the scene to take charge of the security of the area to avoid escalation of the situation. 

Governor Fubara said: “We are here to see for ourselves and get a first hand information of the incident of what happened yesterday night. 

“About 7.30 – 8pm, we got information of the gravity of the incident. I was told that it was caused by a tanker vehicle  that was conveying Premium Motor Spirit (PMS). 

“In fact, I got the information through the MD of Indorama, and I immediately alerted the security agencies to make sure they take control of the security situation in the area.

“And from what we are seeing this morning, it was not a pleasant case. We recorded a huge number of vehicles being destroyed and lives lost”.

Governor Fubara explained that he had already requested the relevant government agencies to provide him a detailed account of their findings to enable the State Government take appropriate decisions and actions to significantly remedy the situation and reduce the negative on the affected people.

“I have already asked the relevant agencies to give us a full brief so that we can come into the situation fully by seeing to how much we can support the families that are bereaved, and also cushion the effect of the loses, which I believe, is no fault of a good number of them. 

“We all know the situation of this road. It is really unfortunate. Most of our people, when plying this road, should ply it with caution. 

“I believe very strongly that this situation would have been avoidable, if the motorists had behaved properly. But it is late already. The damage has happened. This is the situation we have found ourselves. We will see how we can control the aftermath,” he added.

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

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