By Chris Paul Otaigbe
After 17 hours of consuming virtually everything and everyone on its path, Thursday’s pipeline fire at Ijegun, in the Alimoso Local Government Area of Lagos State has been quenched successfully.
This was confirmed, by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) which said the inferno was successfully put off with the assistance of specially-trained safety firemen after 17 hours of tedious services.
The pipeline explosion occurred in the early hours of Thursday, with two unidentified bodies as well as many vehicles and shops burnt in a raging fire.
With support from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as well as the Lagos State and Federal Fire Services, Mr. Farinloye, said the fire was subsided.
According to him, his office had sent the details that two died and taken to the mortuary, 12 injured, four rescued and taken to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, noting that eight persons with minor burns were taken to Gbagada Hospital.
Meanwhile, he said that 31 vehicles were consumed by the fire, as officials of the NNPC Fire Safety Unit are still at the scene with other State and Federal Fire Services officials to ensure the inferno is put off totally.
Farinloye assured that the fire has been contained and not posing any threat to life or property.
Fire broke out in the area of Lagos State on Thursday after suspected hoodlums vandalized pipelines belonging to the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation.
Although the details of this part of the incident are still sketchy, KAFTAN Post learnt that some of the hoodlums were caught up in the explosion and consumed by the inferno.
An eyewitness, Ayodele Samson, said the noise of the explosion woke the residents, and shook a lot of buildings within the area. “We thought it was bomb explosion, until we found that it was fire set off by those bad boys who go to break NNPC Pipes along the route”, said Ayodele.
According to him, the fire was so intense, thick and wide, no one could move near the place because the whole area was up in flames.
Another witness, Daniel, said “the noise of the explosion was so loud, it was deafening, and when we came out to see what the explosion was all about and where it was coming from, we saw that the whole area was on fire…”
Almost immediately, the National Emergency Management Agency, Firefighters department and the Lagos State Fire Service were said to have responded to the incident.
The NNPC management had been promptly alerted by the spokesperson for NEMA, South West zone, Ibrahim Farinloye, in a release he issued to the media and called on the safety unit of the corporation to immediately shut down further supplies through pipeline in order to suffocate the fire.
The point to note, in this fatal fire incidence, is that vandals are responsible for the incident and some of them are affected in the inferno.
Farinloye said it is the responsibility of every Nigerian to prevent criminality, adding that the people take a large share of the responsibility for the tragedy that has now overwhelmed the Ijegun community. He said “If the people had played their civic responsibility of informing any arm of government about the nefarious activities of vandals in their areas, the incident wouldn’t have happened.”
He then appealed to the people to always inform relevant government agencies or personnel of any criminal activity.
