An inferno, on Wednesday night, razed down a filling station, 15 vehicles and some nearby buildings along the Upper New Market Road, Onitsha, Anambra State, destroying property worth millions of naira, the Police has confirmed.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Nkeiruka Nwode, and Dr. Paul Odenigbo, the Executive Director of the state Emergency Management Agency, confirmed the incident to newsmen in Onitsha, Anambra State on Thursday.
Nwode said that three suspected hoodlums were arrested last night during the operation to extinguish the fire.
She said: “We only have five houses burnt; we have like 15 vehicles burnt and five Keke NAPEP and I want to thank the Almighty God that there was no life lost.
“We only had some people with injuries who were taken to the hospital as at the time we were here last night.”
Nwode said that some shanty houses around fuelled the fire and advised the people to desist from engaging in activities that heighten disasters.
She said: “I really want to advice the public that they should help the government to help them.
“Some of these shanty houses around; some of these attachments ignited the fire the more.”
On his part, Odenigbo, said that the fire service responded promptly, adding that fire-fighters were called in from Asaba to assist those from Onitsha and Okpoko when they exhausted their water.
Odenigbo said: “The incident happened about 8pm when the tanker coming from Awka Road, Onitsha was negotiating the DMGS Roundabout and lost control inside the Mobil Filling Station.
“One of the fuel dispensers later caught fire, which spread down the road, destroying vehicles and buildings.”
According to Odenigbo, 13 houses, 10 vehicles, three tricycles and three filling stations: Mobil, MRS and Total, were affected.
Meanwhile, an eyewitness told the News Agency of Nigeria that the fire started at about 8pm when an articulated vehicle laden with fuel, fell inside Mobil filling station by DMGS Roundabout.
The eyewitness said that fuel from the tanker flowed down the road through the drain, spreading the fire.
The source said that the inferno affected parts of a popular building known as Kamo Plaza, where two banks have their offices, but caused minimal damages.
Chinelo Onyeuna, a victim and Manager of Bencash Investment Nigeria Limited, a company that deals on electronics and furniture, said she lost goods worth N100 million to the fire.
Onyeuna said: “We had so many goods worth over N100 million.
“Just look at our plaza.
“It has been burnt down completely.
“What I am saying is that government should stop all these people operating filling stations near residential buildings.”
Another victim, Juana Oboli, from Onitsha, said she lost her residential building, which she had laboured for 12 years to build.
Oboli, a public servant with the Nigerian Prison Service, Awka, who disclosed that she is a widow, urged the state government to help her recover from her loss.
She said: “I struggled for more than 12 years to complete the house after I lost my husband; I want government to intervene because I don’t have anybody else to help me in this case.”
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