Seventeen people have reportedly been burnt to death after a petrol tanker explosion occurred on Wednesday at Koko Junction on the Benin/Sapele Expressway in Ethiope West council area of Delta State.
According to the Delta State Police command, DSP Onome Onowakpoyeya, the driver of the petroleum tanker was trying to maneuver a bad spot on the road when it fell and spilled its content.
The tanker reportedly exploded killing 17 people and burning 4 vehicles after residents rushed to scoop the oil product.
A truck driver, Kola Akintayo, who witnessed the incident told the Nation that another vehicle passing by scraped a metal, igniting a fire.
According to ThisDay Live, an eyewitness said the incident resulted in heavy gridlock along the ever busy road.
The witness, who simply gave his name as Nnamdi, said he was on his way from Benin when their vehicle was made to park because of the heavy gridlock the incident caused on the road.
The incident caused a heavy traffic, forcing mobile policemen to take up emergency traffic control duties.
The witness said;
The situation was terrible. Many people died because they were trapped. If my memory will not fail me, I counted about 20 gory bodies and 10 passenger vehicles that were burnt. Ours was luck because we got there when fire fighters were already battling the fire. Many people were trapped inside the vehicles and it was difficult to rescue them because the fire was really huge. We were told that the tanker was trying to avoid a bad spot in the road when it suddenly veered off, and fell with an explosion.
DSP Onovwakpoyeya however said only three persons died with two vehicles and two motorcycles burnt during the incident.
Officials of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and security agencies evacuated bodies and rushed the injured to a hospital in Oghara community.
