A deadly gas explosion has rocked a fuelling station in the Baruwa area of Ipaja in Lagos State.
1st News gathered that the incident happened around 5:45am on Thursday, October 8, in Lagos.
In order to curb the inferno, first responders including men of the Lagos Fire Service; as well as the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency have been drafted to the area.
This latest explosion comes in the wake of an earlier gas tanker explosion on Thursday, September 24, 2020. The explosion occurred in the Iju-Ishaga area of Lagos, leaving destruction in its wake; with at least 16 persons critically injured as well as scores of building and cars destroyed.
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The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) confirmed that five persons were killed following a gas tanker explosion in the Baruwa area of Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State.
Mr Ibrahim Farinloye, Acting Zonal Coordinator, South-West Zonal Office, NEMA, who confirmed this in an interview in Lagos, said that three persons have been rescued.
Farinloye said Thursday’s incident occurred at 5.40 a.m. at Candos Road, Baruwa Inside, Lagos when a Liquefied Petroleum Gas tanker was in the process of discharging at the Best Roof Gas Plant Station.
He said: “Unfortunately, the gas station had its generator on and it triggered an explosion.
“The explosion threw the discharging tanker across the road.
“There are casualties. Five bodies have been recovered but search and recovery will be carried out after the emergency phase.
“Many buildings have been destroyed because the station is located within a densely populated community.”
Farinloye said the inferno has been put off by officers of the Lagos State Fire Service while impact assessment by emergency response agencies was ongoing.
Also, the spokesperson for the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Mrs Oluwayemisi Sule, said that two bungalows, four-storey buildings, consisting of one school, one hotel, one creative centre, and one residential building, 24 Shops as well as one gas station were destroyed by the explosion.
“Also affected included a gas tanker truck, one Pick-up van, and one Tricycle,” Sule explained.
