Tragedy Averted As Petrol, Gas Tankers Crash In Ogun

Another tragedy was averted in Ogun state on Thursday when a Liquefied Natural Gas – laden tanker crashed and its content escaped on the Joju Road, in Sango area of the State.

Hundreds of motorists plying the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway were stranded for several hours as a result of the incident.

The state Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Clement Oladele, and the Public Relations Officer of the state Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps, Babatunde Akinbiyi, confirmed the incident.

Recall that in the early hours of Thursday, a petrol pipeline had exploded in Ijegun area of Lagos, killing two people with over 30 vehicles burnt.

The FRSC commander told The Punch correspondent that the gas-laden tanker hit an object on a bad portion of the road and its content escaped at the Joju area of the expressway.

“Due to the explosive nature of the gas and the propensity for fire, both sides of the road had to be cordoned off,” Oladele said.

He added that traffic had to be stopped on both sides of the road.

The FRSC boss stated, “The traffic build up from Joju has gone past the Dalemo U-turn outwards Lagos, while that inwards Lagos has extended to Iyana Ilogbo.

“The FRSC and fire service personnel are on the ground together with other security agents managing the situation.”

The TRACE spokesperson said motorists would need to exercise patience till the remaining content was transferred from the tanker.

Akinbiyi said the tanker had been stopped from moving in order to avert danger so that its content could be discharged into another vehicle.

He stated, “We have begun the process to offload the content of the tanker and it will take about two hours. Motorists need to be patient till we complete the exercise; if not, the chemical in the gas is too dangerous for human beings to inhale.

“Men of fire services have been on the ground to flush away the chemical immediately the gas is completely evacuated from the tanker.”

Also on Thursday, a petrol-laden tanker crashed into road barriers around 2.50pm around the Car Park ‘C’ area of the Redemption Camp on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

Oladele said, “FRSC personnel working with sister traffic agencies and the construction company handling the road have been able to remove the barriers to enable free flow of traffic.

“The fire service has also been contacted as standard practice before trans-loading of the tanker’s content in order to avert a fire outbreak.

“Efforts are on to remove the crashed vehicle from the road. Motorists are advised to use alternative corridors like the Ikorodu-Sagamu Road, Lekki-Ajah-Epe Expressway and the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.”

Oladele advised motorists to be patient and cooperate with the FRSC and other traffic and emergency agencies managing the situation.