A major Christmas Eve tragedy was on Saturday averted by the combined efforts of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and the Lagos State Fire Service when a tanker fully loaded with 33,000 litres of PMS fell on the Anthony bridge inward Gbagada.
According to an eyewitness account, the incident occurred at about midnight on Friday when two fuel-laden tankers struggling to overtake each other collided, leaving one fallen on its side while the other one sped away.
General Manager of LASEMA, Mr. Adesina Tiamiyu who confirmed the incident, said that at about 12:15am, a call came at the agency’s call centre to alert about the accident.
“We discovered that the fuel in the tanker was leaking heavily from the three compartments and men of the Lagos State Fire Service were on ground to blanket the fuel with chemicals and foam to reduce the level of combustible capacity to explode. We traced the path of the leaking fuel into the compound of Greensprings Schools in Anthony and also run through the underground gutters emptying this into the Obanikoro canal.
“The fire service pumped massive chemicals in its path to diffuse the powers of the fuel and LASEMA and other emergency response team went into the neighbourhood to evacuate people and asking everybody to stop all forms of cooking and took them to safety,” he said.
The LASEMA GM said it took over eight hours to bring the situation under control.
Tiamiyu said Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, came to the scene at about 3am to see things for himself and gave instructions to LASEMA, who coordinated the rescue efforts to ensure the situation was handled diligently and carefully to ensure no fire incident.
He said LASEMA brought in heavy duty equipment from the newly commissioned Lagos Response Unit (LRU) in Cappa Oshodi including The Crane “Charlie” and other support equipment to finally lift up the truck from its fallen position and it was towed to safety by another heavy duty tow truck known as “Super Metro”.
He said after the recovery of the truck off the scene, the fire service poured foam and chemicals on the road to wash off the fuel within the driving vicinity, flushed the gutters from inside Greensprings Schools and at about 7.50am, the road on both sides were open for free vehicular movement.
“We were able to achieve this feat because LASEMA has the equipment and the capacity including a team of other responders like the fire service, Rapid Response Squad, Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) and the Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS) who all cooperated to ensure a hitch free operation,” he said.
