A tanker driver, motor boy and one other person sustained varying degrees of injuries when a petrol-laden tanker caught fire along the Ijebu-Ode area of the Sagamu-Benin Expressway on Thursday.
The Commandant of the Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency, Seni Ogunyemi, confirmed this in a statement sent to journalists on Thursday.
According to Ogunyemi, the accident occurred when the truck conveying petrol fell into a ditch along the expressway.
The impact of the fall led to the tanker spilling its content which some residents took advantage of to scoop fuel.
The TRACE boss noted that efforts made to dissuade the residents from scooping the fuel proved abortive.
He said, “A serious lone accident involving a loaded tanker with PMS fell in a ditch at FISCO AXIS Ijebu-Ode along the Benin-Ijebu-Ode Expressway inward Ijebu-Ode.
“The police and fire service have been contacted. The community has been advised not to get close to the tanker but they refused. Efforts are ongoing to transload the product.”
In a further update, Ogunyemi stated that the tanker had caught fire.
“The earlier reported laden tanker with PMS has caught fire. The fire service was there doing the needful,” Ogunyemi said.
While confirming the casualties, Ogunyemi noted that three male adults comprising the tanker driver, his assistant and another person who had come for transloading of the content were injured.
He said that the injured victims were taken to the Ijebu-Ode General Hospital for treatment.
“Three injured males. The driver, motor boy and one other person who came for transloading were involved.
“The driver and motor boy have been treated at the Ijebu-Ode General Hospital and discharged while the third victim is still receiving treatment at the same hospital,” Ogunyemi said.
PUNCH Metro reported on October 23 that a mother of four, Mercy Emmanuel, lost her life after sustaining severe burns in the tanker fire incident that occurred along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
A nursing mother who was attempting to rescue her children from the fire was also hospitalised following severe injuries sustained in the fire.
The fire had begun when a petro-laden tanker overturned at midnight in front of a commercial bank located on the Ibafo section of the expressway.
