From Tony John, Port Harcourt
Property worth hundreds of million Naira were destroyed as fire incident occurred at gas refilling station in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Friday.
Although no life was lost, Saturday Sun gathered that one person was wounded and rushed to hospital.
Sources said the gas tanks were underground and the incident happened when some staff of the company were carrying out fabrication work at the station.
According to the eyewitnesses, the fabrication work sparked fire, which led to explosion of the tanks.
They commended fire fighters from government, and four different companies for their swift response to distress calls which prevented escalation of the fire and more damages.
An eyewitness, Morgan Brown, expressed: “The fire outbreak in the afternoon. Staff of the company were fabricating some areas and suddenly we heard a heavy sound and fire raging. People scampered for safety.
“I want to thank fire fighters from four different companies and government that responded quickly to this incident. If not their quick arrival to distress calls from members of the public, more damages would have occurred.
“Assuming fire fighters had delayed arrival, the inferno will spread to the fuel station close to it and it could lead to casualties.
“As you can see, over 10 vehicles were burnt beyond repair. Multimillion property naira were destroyed by this gas explosion. We thank God that nobody died. But, the damages are unquantifiable”, Brown said.