Many feared dead as petrol tanker explodes in Lagos

Many persons were feared dead after a petrol-laden tanker exploded in the Sari Iganmu area of Lagos State.

The Futuremap gathered that the incident happened on Thursday evening.

The cause of the explosion is however yet unknown but emergency responders arrived at the scene to combat the fire. Videos circulating online also showed the raging fire as people wailed.

Officials of the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Services were at the scene to combat the fire.

The spokesperson for the agency, Shakiru Amodu, in a terse statement sent to our correspondent, said, “Tanker fire is being combatted at the Lagos Quadrapoint Bridge, by National Arts Theater, Iganmu as Sari Iganmu and Ilupeju Fire Crews combine efforts to tame the raging fire.”

The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority in a post on X said, “A tanker has gone up in flames just before Iganmu bridge from Sifax. LASTMA has already alerted the @LagosRescue. Our officers at the scene are doing their best to handle the situation. Motorists moving towards the location are advised to avoid the location and reroute their journey for safety,” the agency said via @followlastma.

The spokesperson for the agency, Adebayo Taofiq, promised to get back to our correspondent when asked for details of the incident.

An eyewitness who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “The container was coming from Apapa. The container climbed the bridge leading to Orile, it could not climb the bridge and fell off at the tail end of the bridge. It then collided with a fuel tanker, which burst into flames.”

The eyewitness added that about 10 vehicles were trapped with their occupants. “Fire service men from Iganmu station came to the scene,” he added.