By Ayodele Oni
Eyewitnesses have recounted how the petrol tanker fire at Ore, Ondo state which burnt to dead not less than 20 persons, started.
A tanker loaded with petrol had lost control and fell into a ditch very close to the community’s stream.
One of the witnesses, Awalu Saliu From Sokoto State narrates that “The tanker fell around 4:30 in the evening. I heard about it and I drove to this place from the town. Many people were taking fuel. The rain has stopped.
“I parked my motor-cycle and came down. After some time, we heard something like a boom. The fire started coming. There was another boom and we saw fire coming.
“Over 100 people scooping fuel directly from the tanker ran away. I also ran. I saw people carrying fuel and being trailed by the fire. Many people would have died if the fire had started from the tanker, but it started where the water flowed to the residence of a woman who was cooking. The woman died instantly.
Tijani Diekola, recounts that “I got here few minutes after the explosion and met some burnt corpses on the ground but the situation was so tensed and nobody could get near the place.
“It was this morning that some relatives of the victims were able to get the corpses of the affected people. None of them survive the incident because most of them were burnt beyond reasonable measures.
“This morning I met about ten burnt dead bodies, while those around the tanker cannot be recognized. They were packed inside a sack by officials of the FRSC.
“The tanker driver lost control of the vehicle and entered the ditch around 4:30pm. The people started trooping to the place of the incident, scooping the fuel until the ugly incident happened around 6pm.
“What actually happened was that the fuel started spilling into a stream in the community, while the residents continue to scoop the fuel with buckets and kegs until the explosion occurred.
“Unfortunately, a woman was cooking in her kitchen when the inflammable product on the water caught fire, burning the woman to death while the fire travels back to the tanker.
“A pregnant woman crossing the stream with three other minors were caught in the river and were burnt beyond recognition.
“No one could move to safe them. Some other people who were close to the tanker were also badly affected. Their remains were packed this morning.”
As at Monday, officials of the Federal Roads Safety Commission, (FRSC) were still clearing debris and remains of those burnt beyond recognition as they could no longer be recognized by their relations.
FRSC has confirmed that eight dead bodies were recovered at the scene of the incident while others sustained various degrees of injuries.
