Scores Of People Roasted, Houses Burnt As Petrol Tanker Explodes In Ibadan

Unspecified numbers of people were roasted and houses burnt as petrol tanker exploded in Molete area of Ibadan Saturday evening.

Reports say a truck carrying fuel fell at the popular Molete Under- Bridge at about 9p.m spilt its content on the road. The fuel connected the nearby drainage and trav­elled a long distance before it eventually caught fire, wrecking havoc in the process.

Eyewitnesses who spoke to the Sun said a pregnant woman and her child as well as a mother and her two children were among the victims of the inferno.

The fuel tanker, accord­ing to reports, was com­ing from Challenge end of Molete before it had a brake failure. The driver reportedly lost control of the tanker before it rammed into a pole, which led to the tragedy.

Some football lovers were said to be discussing the loss of Nigeria to Sudan by one goal in the first leg of the Africa Confederation Cup qualifiers under the bridge when the fire disas­ter began.

Eye witnesses also said that the fire was destroyed people who ran into nearby shops for cover, roasting them with the shops.

The driver of the tanker, according to eyewitnesses, was also killed in the ram­paging fire. He was said to be shout­ing brake failure in order to alert the people to the im­pending danger before the accident occurred.

A man, who introduced himself as Adekunle Ayin­la, said but for the timely intervention of a combined team of fire fighters and se­curity operatives, the trage­dy would have been worse.

Source: The Sun