Sunday 8th November, Tragedy was averted in the Festac axis of Amuwo-Odofin LGA as a Tanker full with Petroleum products, AGO tumbled and fell .
The incident happened in the early hours of Sunday morning, at 6:00am. The tanker fell as it was climbing the Festac link bridge and tumbled.
Immediately after the accident which left its content, 33,000 litres of petrol gushing and emptied onto the road, Security and necessary authorities were contacted to avoid an explosion.
Sadly, people were seen scooping its contents with Kegs and buckets disregarding the consequences that may occur.
Despite the many incidents of deaths as a result of scooping fuel from fallen fuel tankers, residents of Festac defied all warnings, carrying kegs and gallons to get the spilled diesel from the ground.
Meanwhile, emergency responders arrived the scene to trans-load the content left and avert secondary incident.
Shola Fakorede, FTRA President also contacted Federal Fire service in Festac town, He also contacted and reached out to water tanker operators for extra water just incase of its need to support the fire brigade.
Dr. Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, DG/CEO, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), said emergency responders were on ground to prevent a secondary incident.
The emergency responders on ground were Federal Fire services, LASEMA, Lagos State Fire Service, Nigerian Police , Red Cross and community youths.
“The Agency responded to distress calls at around 0600hrs this morning and arrived to find an overturned tanker with its contents (33,000 litres of petrol) rapidly spilling due to the effect of gravity on the overturned tanker.”
Firemen were able to diffuse the diesel which poured out with chemical substance while closing down the lane leaving the other lane for passage.
The Tanker was removed from the bridge at about 10pm on sunday by the LASEMA response unit Goliath Vehicle in order to avoid traffic buildup towards the next day.
Recall that a similar incident occurred December 2017 which led to serious loss of properties worth millions of Naira,no fewer than 20 vehicles and four commercial motorcycles burnt Closure of the bridge for repairs which took a Year long to fix.
We are calling on the local governments and necessary authorities to please put the stoppage on the bridge back.
More Details later