Tragic Monday in Lagos as gas explosion, multiple auto crash leave 4 dead, others injured

A twin set of incidents in the Lagos-Ibadan expressway axis of Lagos State on Monday left at least four people dead, with property worth hundreds of thousands of naira destroyed.

The incidents involved a gas explosion, and a multiple car crash, in which a Dangote trailer said to have lost control ran into other vehicles along the Ojudu-Berger axis of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

In the first incident which happened in the early hours of the day, a fire was set off by an explosion at the Second Coming gas plant situated along the CMD road of the area.
Eyewitnesses said the explosion was set off by the backfire of a faulty vehicle, which ignited leaked gas from one of the trucks in the compound.

As the fire spread to other properties in the neighbourhood, a number of people were said to have sustained various degree of injury.

Two burnt corpses were later seen close to the perimeter fence of the gas station, but could not be identified as at the time of this report.

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As the flame could be seen from as far as a kilometer away, even as men of the Lagos state fire service who were the first responders on the scene battled the inferno.

The gas station, situated in a residential estate has been the destination for cooking gas users around the area.

In the second incident, at least two people also lost their lives, when a truck lost control and ran into about seven other vehicles on the highway.

A witness on the scene told Ripples Nigeria that men of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) had flagged the truck driver to stop, but the driver of the truck which was on high speed in an attempt to obey the marshals lost control of it.

The witness revealed that a vehicle belonging to the FRSC was the first casualty in the multiple crash, as the truck bore down on it smashing it beyond recognition.

“It’s a miracle how the driver who was inside the car managed to escape. It’s like he was thrown out as the truck hit the car because his door was open, and he was just relaxing half in before the accident”, the witness said.

He revealed that the truck went on to hit other cars, including commuter buses on the highway before the driver brought it to a final stop.

When the dust cleared, at least two people were dead with about seven others injured.

While the smashed vehicles and the truck were towed to Adigboluja police station, Ojodu Berger, the injured persons were said to have been transferred to a nearby hospital, with corpses of the dead victims taken to a yet to be determined mortuary.

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