One person was confirmed dead, while five vehicles were completely burnt on Saturday when a truck carrying Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) exploded in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
The explosion, which occurred around the Ita-Oshin area of the metropolis, also shook the foundations of several residential buildings, leaving many of them with shattered louvres and glass doors with adex roofing becoming debris.
It was gathered that the driver of the gas-laden truck, coming from its depot in the Obada-Oko in the Ewekoro local government area of the State, was embroiled in a hot argument with the driver of another truck over a right of way in the axis which resulted in his loss of control and consequently crashed on the road divider at the Ita-Oshin.
The refusal of the gas-laden truck to politely negotiate his right of way allegedly infuriated the driver of the other truck, thereby forcing him to crash on the road median which ignited a fire from the engine that eventually caused the explosion.
Head of the Federal Fire Service (FFS) team, Deputy Superintendent of Fire Service (DSF), Adeoye Adegoke, who confirmed the incident, said that the only victim of the explosion was the motor boy of the gas-laden truck, whose body was shattered on the road and was packed by officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) into one of their body bags.
Confirming the accident, spokesperson of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Florence Okpe, said the accident involved six persons, who were all male.
She added that two persons were injured, while one person lost his life in the accident.
“The number of people involved were 06 and all male adults, 02 got injured
and unfortunately, 01 person died from the fire incident which is the motor boy that was trapped”.
“A total of 05 vehicles were involved with registration numbers as follows; AAN544 YC NISSAN,
GDB841XR MICRA, LSD993 CY NISSAN, T23771 LA SINO TRUCK and a HONDA CRV with no registration number on it”.
“The suspected cause of the crash was mechanical deficiency (brake failure) and the vehicle crashed on the road barricade then went into flames and other vehicles around/ shops were burnt”.
“The fire service were contacted immediately and the scene was conned also to avoid a secondary crash”.
She added that ”the corpse of the deceased was deposited at the state general Hospital morgue Abeokuta and the injured victims were taken by the family”.
Meanwhile, the incident resulted in a total halt of vehicular movements on the in and out of the Abeokuta – Sango Ota expressway, as the road was completely cordoned off by the combine security operatives which included those of the FRSC, the Police, state-owned Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency (TRACE) as well as those of the state-owned Community Security outfit: the So-SAFE Corp as part of the measures to prevent further explosion since the LNG in the truck was still intact.
