…says incident unfortunate
The Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun, has expressed his heart-felt sympathy to the victims of the petrol tanker explosion at Matogun Area of Ifo Local Government Area of the state.
Abiodun, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Kunle Somorin, on Saturday, described the incident, in which no fewer than 10 houses and shops were destroyed by fire from the explosion, as unfortunate.
The governor, who thanked God that no life was lost in the explosion, however, expressed grief at the level of destruction of people’s property.
Abiodun explained that such an unforeseen incident was one of the reasons his administration decided to embark on the reconstruction of the Ijoko-Alagbole-Lambe-Akute Road, despite the huge amount of public fund sunk into the road without completion by the immediate past administration.
While suing for calm among the residents of the Matogun and its environs, the governor assured that work would be expedited on the road to forestall such an incident and to make life of the people in the axis comfortable.
Abiodun, who reiterated his administration’s commitment to making the people of Ogun State enjoy the real dividends of democracy, stated that palliative assistance would be rendered to those who lost their property to the inferno, with the view of mitigating their losses.
A petrol-laden tanker has exploded at the boundary between Olambe and Matogun, in the Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State.
The truck driver was said to be conveying the petrol to a filling station in the area when he lost control of the vehicle due to bad road.
It was learnt that the truck crashed and the tank fell to the ground, got ruptured and the petrol spilled on the road and into the drainage channel in the area.
Our correspondent gathered that a spark occurred as the petrol was spilling and the fire razed shops and buildings in the area.
An eyewitness, who gave his name only as Oladele, said the fire had caused panic in the community, adding that no fewer than 10 houses had been razed by the fire.
He said, “A lot of people have abandoned their homes; some people are still looking for their children. This is a serious fire and it was caused by a tanker that fell while plying the Olambe to connect Matogun. Shops and about 10 building have been burnt.”
The Lagos Territorial Coordinator, National Emergency Management Agency, Ibrahim Farinloye, confirmed the incident in a statement on Saturday.
He stated that no casualty had been recorded, adding that the content of the tank spilled around 7am.
Farinloye said, “A tanker laden with about 45,000 litres of PMS crashed, spilled its content and exploded around 7am at Olambe, Matogun Road, Ifo LGA, Ogun State.
“Though, no live was lost or anyone sustained injury but about 10 buildings were consumed in the incident.
“The situation was mitigated with most of the content spilling into the canal close to the scene, thereby saving the community from serious incident that could have affected people. The fire has been put out.”
