In a tragic accident involving a tanker explosion, a petrol tanker carrying petroleum products exploded along the Ugwu Onyeama section of the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway.
This explosion claimed 15 lives, including women and children, and also burnt cars on the same expressway.
The tanker explosion was said to have occurred around 11:30 am on Saturday morning. According to eyewitness reports, the tanker fell while trying to navigate the expressway, which resulted in the explosion.
Another eyewitness reported the tanker explosion, saying, “Yes, there was a big tragedy this afternoon at Ugwu Onyeama Federal Highway. A tanker carrying premium motor spirit, otherwise known as petrol, fell on the hilly road and spilled the product.
“Unfortunately, it caught fire, and all the vehicles plying the road at the time caught fire and burned people beyond recognition.
“As I am speaking with you, over 10 people, including children, have been burnt beyond recognition. Some have just been loaded in a pickup van to the morgue now. So many others were loaded in a vehicle and taken to a morgue earlier.
“As we speak, there’s no road through Ugwu Onyeama.
“I am trapped somewhere in Ngwo. The situation is tragic. The second lane of the road is impassable. The fire raged along the road leading to Agu-abor.”
There has been no official statement from the FRSC regarding the tanker explosion, who were present on the scene to facilitate rescue efforts. This won’t be the first time in 2025 a tanker explosion will be claiming lives.
Dr. Peter Mbah, Enugu State Governor, arrived at the scene of the tanker explosion, was dissatisfied with the situation, and sympathised with the families of the lives lost.
Immediately, he directed Mr. Franklin Agbakoba, the Federal Road Safety Commission’s Sector Commander, Enugu, and Mr. Obi Ozor, the State Commissioner for Transport, to ensure all tankers in the state have an anti-spill lock to prevent issues like these from happening again.
Mbah said, “This is an accident involving a tanker explosion that preliminary investigation show may have had a break failure, fell down, had its product, premium motor spirit spilled from the tank and ignited. So, this is for us a tragedy where we have some casualties.
“But as I said, investigation is still at preliminary stages. The police and other law enforcement agencies are on it. We want to get to the root of this for us to understand the true cause of the accident.
“In the meantime, we have moved those that are in need of treatment to the hospitals for full medical attention.
“My Commissioner for Health and also my Special Adviser on Health, the Chief Medical Director of the Enugu State University of Science and Technology Teaching Hospital (ESUTTH), Parklane, Enugu, the police, and Federal Road Safety Corps are all involved.
“They have my instruction to ensure that maximum medical attention is given to the survivors.”
Continuing, he stated, “But we’re also taking quick measures as a government. I have just been speaking to the head of the Federal Road Safety Corps to make sure they enforce the rules that prohibit tanker drivers from the road without an anti-spill lock.
“Tankers conveying premium spirits and inflammable products must have an anti-spill lock to ensure that when these trucks for down, they do not spill. It is very important.
“Also, for us as a government, we are going to be looking at how we can deploy some traffic rules to ensure that we do not have a recurrence of this.
“We are obviously not going to wait for the federal government to fix the other section of the road.
“We as government are going to take steps to ensure that whatever needs to be done on that section of the federal road is done immediately, so we would never want a reoccurrence of this.”
Join our social media channels:
WhatsApp: NaijaEyes
Facebook: NaijaEyes
Twitter: NaijaEyes
Instagram: NaijaEyes
TikTok: NaijaEyes
