•We’re saddened by extent of carnage – Fubara
…Promises to cushion effects on bereaved families
From TONY JOHN, Port Harcourt
Some drivers and passengers have reportedly lost their lives and over 70 vehicles burnt in a tanker explosion along the Aleto Eleme axis of the East-West Road, in Rivers State.
The incident occurred at about 7:30pm between Indorama Gate and Aleto Bridge on the popular and ever busy Eleme section of the East-West Road currently undergoing major reconstruction by the Federal Government.
Sunday Sun gathered that the explosion was caused by a tanker vehicle conveying Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) or petrol.
Eyewitnesses said a very long stretch of vehicles trapped in the gridlock was completely burnt. They said drivers and passengers, especially women and girls could not escape from the inferno.
Meanwhile, the State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has described as very unfortunate the fire incident, which burnt motorists and commuters beyond recognition and destroyed a good number of vehicles.
Governor Fubara expressed his sadness at the gory sights that he saw when he visited the scene of the incident.
Fubara was accompanied by the State Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu, and the State Commissioner for Energy and Natural Resources, Mr. Uchechukwu Nwafor, on Saturday morning.
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.
Fubara stated that as he received news of the incident, 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.
He said: “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.”
However, they eyewitnesses have accused the contractor (RCC) handling the road resconstruction of creating a narrow road for drivers and other road users to pass through.
They lamented that property worth billions of naira were lost in the carnage and called on Federal Government to speed up work the East-West road to forestall recurrence.
According to eyewitnesses, the fire incident would have escalated if not prompt arrival by fire fighting team from the Indorama-Nigeria, a petrochemicals company.
Sunday Sun observed that buildings were not torched by the inferno following speedy intervention of the firefighters from the company.
They also commended several tactical officers from the the State Police Command, who were at the scene to ensure security and forestall further carnage.
Eyewitnesses said that it would be very difficult to ascertain the correct number of people that lost their lives in the fire incident.
One of the drivers identified as Precious, said he survived the fire outbreak by divine providence.
He said: “I was heading to Akpajo. Approaching the bridge, I noticed a very thick hold up. Normally, there is always hold up and we all started to follow the hold up.
“Suddenly, we saw a lot of people running and shouting ‘fire, fire’. It was difficult for me to reverse my vehicle. But, luckily, I managed to reverse it.
“I joined others and ran away. We later checked and found out that more than 300 vehicles were trapped in the hold up and many people were burnt. Some people were struggling to run, but the couldn’t make it. It would be difficult to get the accurate figure.”
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Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, briefing journalists at the scene of tanker explosion. With him is the Commissioner of Police, CP Olatunji Disu, on Saturday.