Fresh facts related to the tanker fire incident which occurred on Wednesday in Lagos have emerged. Read the untold story about the accident.
The last may not have been heard about the tanker fire which wreaked monumental havoc along Wilmer/Kirikiri road in Apapa area of Lagos State on Wednesday.
The Nation’s investigation revealed that a building in the midst of the rubble of charred buildings was mysteriously not consumed by the raging inferno.
The building used for prayer meeting by the traders. It also serves the secretariat of the traders’ union. It stood in between a long stretch of buildings which were consumed by the fire but inexplicably escaped the wrath of the furious conflagration.
Ben Mbachu, who has a shop on the ground floor of the building, was speechless when the correspondent visited the premises.
“My goods are intact” was his sudden outburst when our correspondent approached him for comment.
He said: “I have been doing business here for the past 20 years. The shops in this axis got burnt but
this one did not. My goods were not burnt. They are intact. It is miraculous and I believe it was the Lord’s doing. It is a miracle that the fire passed over this building to consume other buildings. Traders used to hold their prayers here. The traders’ union members rented the first floor and gave it out to people who hold prayer sessions here.”
It was, however, not a victory song for him all the way. His second shop located in another building was burnt.
Findings showed that some of the victims, were still enjoying the Yuletide break in their various home towns when they received heart-rending calls that their shops were on fire. John Anyanwu, a victim, said he had to abort his holiday and rushed down to Lagos to see the calamity that had befallen his means of livelihood.
"Everywhere was on fire. We lost goods worth millions of naira... I stocked my shop with the hope of selling them after returning from the Yuletide break but as you can see, they are burnt. I am going to sell them off as scraps. I can’t really quantify the loss that I suffered until I take time to check my stock... We would appreciate if the government could come to our aid by helping us to put the place back in order and allow us to continue to occupy the shops we have always used for our business," he said.
Augustine Eze, another victim, also cut short his holiday in his home town to see the setback that the fire disaster had caused him. His only source of living was burnt down.
He said:
"I was planning to pay my children’s school fees but with this incident, it has become impossible. I could not even give them money to eat because my only source of earning a living has been consumed by fire... My wife and my children were in tears when they came here this morning because they saw that our source of livelihood was gone. It was some friends that helped me with some money to provide food for them. I will appreciate if I could get some financial assistance to start afresh."
Naomi Dickson, an eye witness, said "I saw for the first time in my life how human beings were roasted like animals. It was a gory and pathetic sight that I never pray to witness in my life again."
Now the area dwellers confess it will be hard for them to get back to normal, both physically and morally, as the accident has substantially affected their way of living.
