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• Gov Fubara saddened, promises to cushion effects on bereaved families
From Tony John, Port Harcourt
Many people were on Friday night feared dead and over 70 vehicles burnt when a tanker vehicle laden with Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise called petrol exploded and went up in flames along the Aleto Eleme axis of the East-West Road in Rivers State.
The tragic incident occurred at about 7:30p.m between Indorama Gate and Aleto Bridge on the popular and ever-busy Eleme section of the East-West Road currently undergoing reconstruction by the Federal Government.
Eyewitnesses told Sunday Sun that many vehicles that were trapped in the gridlock caused by the incident were completely burnt, adding that drivers and passengers, especially women and girls in the vehicles could not escape from the inferno and thus many of them were burnt beyond recognition.
Meanwhile, the Rivers State governor, Siminalayi Fubara, described the fire incident as very unfortunate.
Governor Fubara expressed sadness on the gory sights he saw when he visited the scene of the incident yesterday.
The governor was accompanied to the scene by the state Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu, and the state Commissioner for Energy and Natural Resources, Mr Uchechukwu Nwafor.
He disclosed 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 put 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.
He 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 – 8:00p.m, 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.”
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.
His words: “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, the eyewitnesses have accused the contractor (RCC) handling the road reconstruction 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 the Federal Government to speed up work on the East-West road to forestall a recurrence.
According to eyewitnesses, the fire incident would have escalated if not for the prompt arrival of fire-fighting team from the Indorama-Nigeria, a petrochemicals company.
Sunday Sun observed that buildings were not razed by the fire following speedy intervention of the firefighters from the company.
They also commended several tactical officers from 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 that he survived the fire by providence.
He said: “I was heading for 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 they couldn’t make it. It would be difficult to get the accurate figure.”
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