Kaduna: 3 killed, 15 injured as fuel tanker explodes

PANDEMONIUM erupt­ed at the weekend in Ungu­war Ma’azu area of Kaduna metropolis as a fully loaded petroleum tanker exploded at an NNPC affiliate Mega station killing 3 persons and injuring 15 others.

An, eyewitness said in­jured were rushed to a nearby private hospital in the area.

The eyewitness added that about 15 vehicles on fuel queue were burnt before fire service personnel could ar­rive the scene of the incident.

It was gathered that the in­cident occurred on Saturday night when the tanker was being off loaded and some fuel spilled onto the ground, and caught fire when a mo­torist ignited his car close to the tanker.

“They were off loading the products when the fuel started spilling from the ve­hicle passing through other vehicles on queue waiting to buy fuel.

“People were cautioned not to ignite their vehicles until it got dried off but a man in Golf 3 vehicle was said to have ignited his car and fire broke out,” an eye­witness added.

According to the eyewit­ness, it was a pathetic situ­ation as the man inside the Golf car got burnt beyond recognition.

“The man died instantly while two others died before being rushed to hospital. Fif­teen people were injured and are now receiving treat­ment at a private hospital.

“The situation was so bad because those I saw at the hospital were seriously burnt and no serious medi­cal attention was given to them at the time of the inci­dent,” he said.

At the time of filing this report, the owner of the filling station could not be reached for a comment on the fire disaster.