New Telegraph

50 shops, houses, vehicles burnt in Niger tanker explosion

Over 50 shops and houses were on Sunday night burnt after tanker carrying fuel otherwise called Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) exploded in flames after crashing with a trailer in Lambata town in Gurara Local Government Area of Niger State.

 

As at yesterday morning, the details of the losses were yet to be ascertained as victims while those affected were crying uncontrollable. Some of the victims were still counting their losses as the Federal Road Service Commission (FRSC) tried to control the traffic while the firefighters were battling the inferno in some places that were still burning.

 

A witness said a trailer and a tanker collided about 11pm on Sunday thereby leading to a spill of the petroleum product to a nearby coal fire which caused the tanker to explode.

 

The New Telegraph gathered that several houses, shops and cars were burn before the Fire Service men from Suleja got to the scene. One of the affected shop  owners, Maryam Tukum, thankedGodforsparingherlife. She said: “Thanks be to Allah. We were all awoken when we heard the explosion.

 

We all ran away and as we were screaming, people were also running for their lives. If there are deaths, then it must be drivers and their conductors who usually sleep in the tankers.

 

“Some drivers also lodged in motels and chalets, but I don’t know if they were affected too. But thank God for sparing our lives.” The tanker drivers refused to speak with journalists.

 

The FRSC has placed the probable cause of the crash to loss of control by the vehicles and indiscriminate parking along the road. An FRSC officer, who did notwanthisnamementioned, said “we are taking inventory but the cause of the fire is from a tanker which collided with anothervehicleandexploded”.

 

The number of people involved could not be ascertained yesterday. Also, at press time, no record of death or injury was reported.

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