Enugu Tanker Fire Claims Three Lives, Says Fire Authority

A tanker fire at the Ugwu Onyeama axis of the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway has claimed three lives and destroyed property estimated at N900 million.

The Deputy Superintendent of Fire, Federal Fire Service, Maxwell Ucheagwu, confirmed the incident to Newsmen in Enugu.

According to Ucheagwu, the fire incident occurred in the early hours, following a head-on collision involving an articulated truck loaded with bags of cement and a tanker transporting Liquefied Natural Gas.

He said the Federal Fire Service Command in Enugu received a distress call at about 3:28 a.m. and immediately deployed personnel and firefighting equipment to the scene.

The Deputy Superintendent of Fire, Federal Fire Service explained that three persons lost their lives in the incident, while several others sustained varying degrees of injuries and were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment.

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He commended Nigerian soldiers stationed at a nearby security checkpoint for their prompt intervention in rescuing victims and evacuating the injured to a nearby hospital for treatment.

He emphasized that firefighters successfully contained the situation by cooling the leaking LNG tanker with two medium jets of water and foam solution deployed from Fire Fighting Service appliance FFS 126, with support from the Enugu State Fire Service.

The deputy superintendent of fire noted that subsequent inspection and damping-down operations confirmed that there was no further leakage or outbreak of fire.

According to him, property worth approximately N900 million was lost in the incident, while assets estimated at N800 million were salvaged through the swift response of firefighters.