How tanker fire spread grief, pain in Anambra

The Onitsha-Enugu Expressway in Anambra State is similar to persistent tanker fire disasters, steering to loss of life and property.

From Nkpor flyover down to Upper Iweka, there have been several tanker fires that consumed lives and property.

Many were feared dead in the latest incident last Sunday at the New Tarzan side of the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway, close to the Building Materials International Market, Ogidi. At least 15 luxurious buses were burnt and several property worth millions of naira destroyed.

A witness, Chinedu Okoli, told Daily Sun that the fire started when the driver of a 40-foot trailer lost control and rammed into a faulty stationary tanker, fully laden with diesel.

The tanker was said to have developed fault by the roadside but when the container vehicle rammed into it, its contents spilled on the ground, leading to a wild inferno. The driver of the ill-fated truck died in the fire, burnt beyond recognition.

Diesel from the tanker flowed into the roadside drainage and the fire followed suit and caught the buses parked beside the drainage in a row, burning all completely.

Giving further insight about what happened, Emeka Obinwa, an official of Anambra State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), said  the incident occurred at about 4pm on Sunday, August 15, 2021, adding that the fire caused panic in the area as residents and motorists scampered for safety.

He said preliminary findings by SEMA showed that a tanker laden with petroleum product parked by the roadside was in a collision with a trailer, resulting in the leakage of the product, which was ignited.

According to him, some residents were scooping the product in drainage channels when the fire started, causing havoc. He added that one person was confirmed dead, but the exact number of casualties could not be ascertained until the conclusion of investigations. However, he said, security agents were mobilised and the entire area was cordoned off to avoid hoodlums taking advantage of the situation to loot property.

Obinwa, an executive assistant on media to Governor Willie Obiano on SEMA, disclosed that five fire trucks were immediately deployed to the scene as soon as the agency was contacted. He regretted that some residents of the area were scooping the product before the fire started, regardless of several warnings by the authorities.

When the reporter visited the scene on Tuesday, some residents were trying to salvage what was left of their property from the scene. Many also thronged the site to catch a glimpse of what happened even as some people gathered in groups discussing the incident.

Onyema Anoruo, from Iheagwa in Imo State, said, apart from the buses belonging to a popular transport company, seven other buses parked within the vicinity of a mechanic workshop were consumed in the inferno. Anoruo, who lives at Enekwasumpu area near the expressway, but transacts his car wash business near Tarzan Junction, told our correspondent at the scene of the accident that he narrowly escaped from the fire.

He said he was in his house that Sunday when one of his customers called him on phone and told him that he had brought his car for washing, based on an earlier arrangement: “After I received a call from one of my customers who needed his car to be washed, based on our earlier arrangement the previous day, I decided to go to my workshop to render the service.

“I was already close to my workshop, which was just a few meters from the scene of the accident, when I suddenly heard a bang and saw fire everywhere in my front and I had to run back for my life.”

He stated that he decided to go back to his house, but, on noticing that the fire service had quickly arrived the scene with the assistance of Ogidi Building Materials Fire Service Unit, he and other sympathizers returnesd to the scene but were helpless to render any assistance as many luxurious buses and shops within the area had been consumed in the inferno.

Jeremiah Ugwuanyi, who lost his roadside motor spare parts shop in the inferno, said losses would have been minimized in the accident, if not for the reckless parking of vehicles along the expressway. He expressed disgust at the manner in which heavy vehicles are parked in Onitsha metropolis and lamented the unnecessary waste of lives on the road due to poor urban planning.

Emeka Anyanwu, a dealer in heavy duty vehicle spare parts whose shop was affected by the inferno, said more casualties would have been recorded if the incident had happened on a working day. Emeka decried the unfortunate incident, which he lamented was becoming a monthly ritual in Anambra State.

“I am aware that government provided a park for the heavy duty vehicles to park inside but, most times, they leave the space inside and park along the road. Anambra State government should force them to be using the park so that they can give way from the main road.

Governor Willie Obiano also visited the scene of the fire incident on Tuesday.

He was received at the scene by the proprietor of Ifeanyichukwu Transport, Chief Ifeanyichukwu Egwim, who took him around the affected areas to assess the damage.

While sympathising with the owners of the buses and others affected, Obiano directed the state command of the Federal Road Safety Corps to evacuate all stationary vehicles, especially on the major roads, to prevent a repeat of such an accident. 

He also urged business operators to embrace insurance system, so as to ensure minimization of losses.

Egwim, when approached for comment, politely declined and said the company was yet to take full inventory of its losses in the incident and could not make any categorical claim on the extent of damage for now.

Chairman of Ogidi Building Materials International Market, Chief Jude Nwankwo, confirmed that the market was not affected by the inferno.

Though he noted that the traders felt the impact of the incident since the market was close to the scene, he said long vehicles often parked along the road and stretched traffic within their market area.

Nwankwo posited that both traders and residents in the area have been in agony before now over losing their loved ones by over-speeding vehicles.

He disclosed that cluster of markets along the ever-busy road has made it pertinent for the siting of a pedestrian bridge in the within the market junction  to avoid loss of lives as people attempt to cross the road while transacting their daily businesses.

It would be recalled that, in 2016, a tanker loaded with petroleum products caught fire around the moribund NITEL area of Asaba Park, Upper Iweka ,Onitsha, killing about 105 people, including passers-by, petty traders, artisans, a driver and his conductor.

The impact of the accident, which resulted in an inferno, attracted the visit of Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo. It was the public disgust over the unfortunate incident that propelled the Anambra State Government to close the said park, leading to its fencing and beautification with flowers.

Two years ago, a similar disaster was witnessed in the Ochanja Central Market axis of Iweka Road and Zik Avenue in Fegge, Onitsha, when a tanker loaded with petroleum products lost control and rammed into a drainage, igniting fire that consumed about 15 lives and destruction of properties worth over N2 billion.