What could have been a major tragedy was on Saturday averted by the combined efforts of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and the Lagos State Fire Service when a tanker,fully loaded with 33,000 litres of PMS, fell on the Anthony Bridge Inward Gbagada.
According to an eyewitness account, the incident, which occurred at about midnight on Saturday, was as a result of two trucks struggling to overtake each other but collided, leaving one of the fuel tankers to fall on its side while the other one sped away.
General Manager of LASEMA, Mr. Adesina Tiamiyu, who confirmed the incident, said that at about 12:15am, a call came at the agency’s call centre to alert about the accident.
He said it took them over eight hours to bring the situation under control, adding that the State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, at about 3am, came to the scene to see things for himself and gave instructions to LASEMA, who coordinated the rescue efforts to handle the situation diligently and carefully and to ensure no fire incident is recorded.
He said LASEMA brought in its heavy duty equipments from the newly commissioned Lagos Response Unit (LRU) in Cappa Oshodi, including The Crane “Charlie” and other support equipment to finally lift up the truck from its fallen position and it was towed to safety by another Heavy duty tow truck known as “Super Metro”.
A statement signed by Habib Haruna, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Ambode, said after the recovery of the truck off the scene, ‘the Fire Service poured foam and chemicals on the road to wash off the fuel within the driving vicinity, flushed the gutters from inside the Greensprings Schools and at about 7.50am, the road, on both sides were open for free vehicular movement.
