… as Gov Fubara, Police Boss, DSS Visit Scene
By Mandy Tina and Godwin Chukwumaechi
Following the tanker explosion that wreaked carnage along the Eleme section of the East-West road, the Rivers State governor Sir Siminalayi Fubara, accompanied by the State Commissioner of Police, CP Olatunji Disu, and director of State Security Service, visited the scene on Saturday, April 27, 2024.
Addressing journalists, Gov Fubara said, “We are here to assess the situation first-hand following yesterday’s incident at around 7:30 pm, caused by a tanker conveying PMS. Upon receiving the information, we promptly alerted the security agencies to intervene.
“I got the information through the managing director of Indorama and I immediately alerted the security agencies to make sure they step in. From what we are seeing this morning it is not a pleasant situation.
“It’s a tragic scene this morning, with a significant number of vehicles destroyed and lives lost. I have instructed the security agencies to provide a comprehensive report so we can extend support to the bereaved families and mitigate their losses, which were not their fault.
“This incident underscores the precariousness of this road, and I urge motorists to exercise caution. We are committed to managing the aftermath as effectively as possible.
“We all know the situation of this road. It’s really really unfortunate. Most of our people when plying this road should ply with caution, I believe strongly that this situation would have been avoided if the motorists have behaved properly.”
Earlier, a statement from the Public Relations Officer of the Rivers State Police Command, SP Grace Iringe Koko, confirmed that seventy cars were burnt, and four individuals, including a pregnant woman, lost their lives.
She however noted that police officers had been deployed to maintain law and order at the scene.
Our correspondent who monitored the incident on Friday night, said it was a disaster of very frightening magnitude that night as unconfirmed number of persons were burnt to death and scores of different types of vehicles destroyed when a petrol tanker exploded in heavy traffic between Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals gate and the Aleto bridge leading to Refinery junction, Eleme, Rivers State.
The incident, which happened about 9:pm, our correspondent said, was allegedly caused by a leak on a petrol tanker after it crashed into another truck said to belong to Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals, loaded with another type of product.
An eye witness told our correspondent who visited the scene at about 6:30 in the morning that the inferno that engulfed several vehicles trapped on the long traffic jam, emanated from an explosion caused by leaked petrol from the tanker.
He said that the fire did not start from the accident point but from an explosion along the trail of petrol leaking out from the tanker causing simultaneous explosions at different points on the long queue of vehicles trapped on the long traffic of vehicles.
He explained that the poor management of traffic by the contractor handling the reconstruction of the Eleme Junction – One axis of the East -West road should be held responsible for the horrific accident said to have claimed the lives of a pregnant woman and many other victims who were trapped in the inferno and burnt beyond recognition.
All categories of vehicles were affected by the accident including private vehicles, commercial buses and trucks with several victims trapped in their vehicles and burnt to ashes.
The eye witness who said he is a Health Safety Environment (HSE) staff of a company situated within the area lamented that the situation was aggravated by the unwillingness of vehicle owners to heed safety instructions to switch of their engines and disembark from their vehicles.
“You know, as people were desperate to maneuver their ways out of the traffic caused by the two trucks, explosion sparked off from one point away from the accident point but followed the fuel to return to the trucks.
“The fire did not start from the two trucks. When we saw the accident and the petrol leaking from the tanker, we tried to stop people from further movement around there, but as Keke, bikes and other drivers were desperately trying to maneuver away from the heavy traffic the fire exploded from somewhere and continued catching vehicles on the long queue of traffic.
“Unfortunately, because of the heavy traffic congestion fire trucks either from the Port Harcourt Refinery or even Indorama Petrochemicals here could not come to fight the fire because there is no access for them to reach the scene of the fire”.
The eye witness, who sought to remain anonymous, said he was able to witness the whole incident because of the lateness of their official bus that was to convey them from his company. He said maybe they would have also been caught in the fire if the bus had arrived on time.
It is highly feared that many people especially, passengers traveling in some commercial buses that were caught in the inferno would have been among the many victims burnt to ashes in the incident, which no one able to actually give account of casualties.
However, our reporter who visited the scene was able to identify several remains of some victims. They included the one identified as a pregnant woman, another one who fell into the gutter in attempt to escape and died there and others trapped and burnt inside their vehicles.
Vehicular movement along that axis was totally blocked causing pedestrians to resort to long trekking to cross the Aleto bridge area or get to Akpajo junction to continue their journey depending on which side of the road they are traveling.
As at 8:am when our correspondent left the scene, no authorities from either, the police, Road Safety, Government officials or even any of the several companies around the area had come around to inspect the scene and probably start any form of evacuation to clear the road for free traffic.
