The fire explosion that rocked Abule Ado, near the Trade Fair Complex on the Lagos Badagry Highway, Lagos today has claimed some lives as well as destroying over 50 buildings.
Speaking in Lagos, according to Punch, the Acting Coordinator of the Lagos Territorial Office of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mr Ibrahim Farinloye said that the cause of the incident and casualty figure were currently unknown.
Farinloye said that rescue operations are still going on in the affected area as at the time of filing this report.
According to him, a combined team of the Lagos State Fire Service, Federal Fire Service, and the Nigerian Navy Fire Service are currently battling to put out the inferno.
However, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has confirmed the cause of the inferno, saying that the fire explosion was as a result of gas explosion, which occurred after a truck hit some gas cylinders stacked in a gas processing plant located near the corporation’s system 2B Pipeline Right of Way.
According to a press statement signed by the corporation Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Dr. Kennie Obateru, the corporation said that preliminary findings indicated that the impact of the explosion was so huge that it led to the collapse of nearby houses and damage to NNPC pipeline on which efforts are being made to curtail the resultant fire.
The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari and other top Management of the corporation departed to Lagos this evening for an on-the-spot assessment at the scene of the incident.
Obateru stated that following the report of the explosion, the corporation quickly halted on-going pumping operations on the Atlas Cove-Mosimi pipeline which was active at the time.
The release explained that NNPC had already mobilised its in-house combined team consisting of Health Safety Environment experts, Medical and Security personnel from its nearby Satellite Depot in Lagos, even as Lagos State Fire Service was also rallied to extinguish the fire.
The release said more fire firefighting personnel and equipment were mobillised from the NNPC Mosimi Area Office to provide extra fillip to the ongoing operation.
While assuring members of the public and residents of the affected communities to remain calm, the NNPC’s spokesman assured that the temporary shutdown of the petroleum products pipeline would not affect the normal supply of products to Lagos and its environs.
He said the fire, currently burning at controlled condition, was being fought headlong, saying a detail assessment of the incident was underway to establish the extent of damage to the pipeline.
The NNPC Group Managing Director, Mallam Mele Kyari, commiserated with the victims of the incident, praying that God provides them succor at this hour.
