Residents scamper for safety over tanker explosion in Lagos

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A tanker laden with 33, 000 litres of diesel has reportedly exploded in Ijegun, Navy town Ojo in the outskirt of Lagos State.

The explosion threw residents of the area into confusion as many people scamper for safety following the loud explosion accompanying the incident.

Eyewitness account at the scene revealed that many residents got to know of the incident because of the deafening explosion.

Emergency officials are currently making efforts to quell the impact of the fire and ultimately quench it.

Director of the State Fire Service, Razak Fadipe confirmed the explosion in a chat with our correspondent. He said the fire was very serious and more fire trucks have been deployed to extinguish the inferno.

“The fire is serious but we are gaining upper hand”, he said.

The Agency was alerted through the emergency toll free line 112/767  concerning a Tank Farm fire outbreak located at Stallionaire Oil Depot, Ijegun Satelite Town, consequently, the Agency activated its emergency response plan with all the relevant stakeholders, on getting to the aforementioned address, it was discovered the facility which is a fuel depot comprising of a five tank farm, of which one of the tank filled with PMS exploded and resulted into big inferno.
However, adequate and prompt response by the emergency responders ( The, Lagos State Fire Service, LASEMA Response Unit Fire Unit, Federal Fire service, Nigeria Navy Tender fire service, FRSC, National Emergency Management Agency, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, RRS, Nigeria Police Force, Julius Berger PLC and other Oil Company Fire tenders ) were on ground to curtailed the inferno to only the PMS tank whilst others(AGO and DPK) tanks were salvaged from the inferno.
The General Manager (LASEMA) Mr Adesina Tiamiyu said proper investigation would be conducted on the incident, he however emphasized the need for owners and managers of oil and gas companies to always ensure that proper emergency response plan is put in place in this kind of facilities.