Henry Okonkwo
Two people died in a tanker explosion, which occurred on Kara Bridge, a border area between Lagos and Ogun states yesterday. In addition, 10 other people sustained various injuries just as 29 vehicles were burnt.
The entire vicinity in the Ojodu-Berger axis was engulfed in flames after the petrol tanker containing 45,000 litres of fuel overturned and exploded at around 1:05am.
Anger, agony and tears were the lot of commuters residing around that axis as they lamented the spate of the explosions that have occurred at that same location on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
“This is the second time this kind of explosion has happened,” Mr. Julian Chinwuba, a trader at the Berger Long Bridge told Sunday Sun.
“Barely five months ago, similar inferno happened after an articulated truck exploded on the same bridge killing four. We are yet to recover from that trauma before another disaster occurred at the same spot. A thorough investigation should be made by the government to find out why we keep having these explosions here at Kara Bridge. We can’t continue like this.”
Sunday Sun learned that most of the motorists had to take the torturous alternative of turning back and continuing their journey by driving through Epe, while others were forced to postpone their trips.
Reacting to the carnage, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in a statement issued by the agency’s spokesman, Bisi Kazeem, explained that the FRSC Corps Marshal, Boboye Oyeyemi, described the accident as unfortunate but avoidable, adding that frantic efforts were already in place to curb the spate of tanker explosions.