The ball of fire and column of smoke from the raging inferno as at 11pm yesterday. PicS BY THISAGE
By Ayo Kehinde
A massive fire outbreak has engulfed the Ekoro area of Lagos state with a late night explosion of a pipeline of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC on Sunday, leaving three dead and a man on life support in a nearby hospital where he was taken after sustaining injuries that a witness described as “been burnt beyond recognition’’, in the his house.
As at 10 pm, three of the dead were seen covered in tarpaulin, surrounded by relatives who got into an argument during which a fight almost broke out until the soldiers intervened. Eyewitnesses say the sudden explosion engulfed buildings and in the confusion some could not escape.
Many houses, shops, vehicles and articulated trucks which litter Pipeline, the affected area, have been burnt, while many still smouldered in the fire which was still raging as at 11:30 when this report was filed. The trucks have made passage difficult for the fire fighting trucks to find vintage position to park.
As at 10p:m many of the fire-fighters were still driving into the area to join some others on the ground trying to tame the wild fire that throws up huge balls and columns of smoke with every explosion causing a stampede by the crowd.
Many are still milling around for information and taking photographs with their phones as at 11pm. Many residents of nearby Ekoro Road, Okeodo and Awori have poured into the streets discussing the incidents, some unsure of what next as the area is ringed with pipeline of the NNPC and on three occasions explosions from them have claimed as many as 100 lives, destroyed property worth millions with no compensation from government.
Officials of National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA and Lagos State Environmental Management Agency, LASEMA, are on the ground trying to assist the firefighters to find a vintage position to park as nobody could easily locate drivers of the articulated vehicles to remove their trucks.
The absence of the drivers has fuelled speculation among residents that they may be part of those vandalizing the pipeline. The trucks, they alleged, are deliberately parked haphazardly as part of the game plan to clog the area to give the vandals enough time to escape. Besides, the area is a slum.
How can fire suddenly break out here” said Mr Yinka, an elderly man who leaves in Shaga area of the state, a distance of about 12 kilometres away.
A fire fighting truck and the raging inferno with persons snapping away with their phones and discussing the outbreak in unsure tones
Yinka had rushed to the scene of the incident, according to him, to offer support to his son who owns a shop in Pipeline. “Those who vandalise NNPC pipeline leave in this community and people know them. It is high time government looked seriously into this matter. This is about the third time pipeline explosion would be taking place in this area and people always die, goods are destroyed.
When asked for developments a NEMA snapped; “we are trying to get the NNPC people to shut down the pipeline”.
Confirming the incident, the Director-General, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Dr Oluwafemi Okeosanyintolu, reportedly said, “A raging fire from the explosion of a vandalised NNPC pipeline has caused panic among residents within Awori, U-turn and Pipeline communities in Abule Egba. LASEMA, the Lagos State Fire Service are responding and on top of the situation. Two people died, while eleven trucks laden with 40-feet containers were destroyed and about seven buildings have so far been razed down by the inferno.”
