Hyacinth Chinweuba
Reports said that several people were injured and property worth billions of naira were lost yesterday as a tanker loaded with petroleum product rammed into a flower garden and exploded in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The fire destroyed a new generation church, a hotel, four shops and a flower garden along G.U. Ake Road, Eliozu, in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the state.
It was gathered that the tanker driver lost control of the vehicle when he was trying to maneuver a bend in the road. The tanker rammed into the garden and burst into flames.
Meanwhile, the general overseer of the affected church, Bunmi Grace, noted that the incident happened around 6 am, adding that none of the victims was able to save any of their belongings.
Grace said: “When the tanker fell and the fire started, the electricity transformer closeby caught fire, exploded and the fire spread the more. Before firefighters came, the thing had gone far.
“The incident will affect our service, but we must gather to worship God. What was destroyed here was over N300 million because we did not remove anything here.
“I was in the house when I received a call that my church was on fire. I got a vision of a fire incident, and we organized prayers and fasting. We finished prayers yesterday, and this morning, this thing happened”.
Also, Amaka Ugu, one of the shop owners, disclosed that this was the third time a tanker has toppled at that spot and called on the government to take prompt action to avert a recurrence. Meanwhile, the commissioner of works, Rivers State, Dum Dekor, has described the incident as sad and pathetic, adding that the accident was as a result of human error.
He said: “The incident could have been avoided. The damage is enormous. It would have been averted because I believe it occurred as a result of some human error.
“I have not ascertained the product, but, from what we can see, it is a petroleum product because that is what can cause this level of damage.
“The incident has also damaged this road. We have lost over 200 meters of this road. The impact is so heavy. The only thing we need to do is that, at this bend, we will ensure devices are built to make drivers reduce their speed on this road.
“We will take certain steps to put this to a stop. We are encouraging every user of our road to apply caution. We appeal to those who have lost anything here to remain calm, while everything will be addressed,” he said.