Okey Sampson, Umuahia
A fuel tanker on Thursday evening went up in flames at Ariaria Junction, Aba, Abia State. Men of Abia State Fire Service who came to put out the inferno, narrowly escaped death when some hoodlums attacked them.
The incident threw road users and business owners around the scene of the incident into confusion as they scampered for safety.
Although no life was lost in the fire that raged for about three hours, men of the Abia State Fire Service that came to put off the fire were attacked by an angry mob.
It was gathered that in a bid to escape from the angry mob that was pelting them with stones and other dangerous weapons, the driver of the fire fighting truck lost control and damaged two commercial tricycles and a commercial bus.
The accident which ignited the inferno was said to have been caused by a bad portion at the Ariaria junction of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway.
The drivers of the two articulated vehicles were said to be avoiding the bad portion which resulted to head-on-collision.
An official of the Abia Fire Fighting Service informed that it took the efforts of his men and other good Samaritans to stop their vehicle from damaging more cars.
The official said that it was unfortunate that the residents of the commercial city could attack his men over a fault that wasn’t theirs.