Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
A fuel station at Elebu area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, and a three-bedroom flat beside the fuel station were on Monday afternoon razed completely.
The inferno was said to have started when a tanker was offloading petroleum in the fuel station. The tanker reportedly caught fire and also razed the tanker, which has the logo of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), on it.
The fire disaster occurred barely three days after a similar incident happened at Moniya in Akinyele Local Government, where two lives were lost and about 12 vehicles were also razed.
Eyewitness accounts revealed that the precautionary steps taken by the management of the fuel station prevented the fire from wreaking more havoc, aa they did not allow any vehicle access to the premises to buy fuel when the offloading was ongoing.
But workers at the fuel station refused to speak with journalists who went to the scene of the fire incident.
But the quick intervention of Oyo State Fire Service, Federal Fire Service and a private company – Zartech, prevented the fire from destroying more property in the area.
Messrs Omole Ayodeji from Federal Fire Service and Ajayi Abiodun from Zartech Fire Service, said they responded to distress call, but investigation would reveal the cause of the fire incident.