Petrol tanker falls, spills content on Lagos road’s bad spot

A tanker loaded with petroleum product fell yesterday at Oke-Afa, Ejigbo area of Lagos State, spilling its content and causing heavy traffic snarl in the axis.

The incident, which occurred at about 4:50p.m., sent fear down the spines of commuters, as they hurriedly made U-turns to avert any disaster in the event of an explosion. Eyewitnesses said the incident was caused by bad road.

The tanker was heading towards Isolo, after loading at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) depot at Iyana-Ejigbo, when it fell at the bad spot, after the driver tried to maneuver its way. The incident caused heavy gridlock as motorists were compelled to use the narrow lane inward Pako roundabout, Oke-Afa.

Many commuters were stranded at Ikotun, Ejigbo, and Jakande gate. There was also a large crowd of commuters at Cele and Isolo bus-stops, without any means of transportation to their respective homes as both commercial buses and tricycles were stuck in the traffic.

Commercial motorcycles, popularly known as Okadas, were the only means of movement for the stranded passengers. And the few available riders hijacked the situation by hiking the fare. From Cele to Ejigbo on bike that usually goes for N250 was N500 with the rider taking two passengers while Cele to Ikotun that was N400 at peak periods went for N700 for a passenger and N1,400 for two.

As at the time of writing this report, the content had spilled into the gutters, with residents expressing fear of a possible inferno if urgent steps were not taken by the Fire Service to avert it. A fire-fighting truck was dispatched to the scene while a towing truck was still being expected to lift the tanker off the road.

The bad spot had been neglected for a long time with many vehicles getting stuck in the several gullies lining the centre of the road. It was left unattended to and would have lead to a major disaster yesterday.