Properties worth billions of naira were destroyed early Tuesday morning when a petrol tanker somersaulted on Iyana Ipaja Bridge, Lagos and threw scores of houses and stores into blaze.
The incident occurred at about 2 am when the tanker driver lost control on the bridge due to break failure and poured its content, petrol on the popular Lagos/Abeokuta Expressway and the adjacent streets.
After hours of uncontrolled leakages of the fuel without the arrival of Fire Service, the petrol fired up the area leaving the stretch of stores and residential buildings along the road wrecked with the blaze.
An eye witness told Hallmark News that the fuel tanker was coming from Agege Area but the driver suddenly stopped on Iyana Ipaja Bridge to repair its faulty break.
While trying to do that, the officers of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA ordered him to move away from the bridge.
The eyewitness said, “In his bid to drive the tanker away from the bridge, the driver lost control and ran into the culvert on the expressway. It somersaulted and poured the petrol on the road. This is the cause of the fire.”
When Hallmark correspondent visited the place, it observed that many stores, loaded with building materials had been razed by fire while the shop owners lamented their losses.
Though no life was lost, according to a resident in the area, the properties that had been destroyed by fire could not be quantified by now.
