It was a black Thursday yesterday in Nnewi,the industrial nerve of Anambra State as over 100 people were killed by a gas explosion. The incident occurred at about noon at a company, Inter Corp Oil limited(an LPG Gas Plant) said to be a member of Chikason Group. Chikason Group is an indigenous conglomerate with about 13 companies under its fold. It is the owner of the famous A-Z oil and is engaged in oil and gas, manufacturing, construction, mining, among other ventures.
As at the time of filing the report, the number of casualties of the incident were not very clear, even as some eyewitnesses claimed that the figure was above 100.
“All the people inside the gas plant as at the time of the incident died. People had gone there to buy gas because the company will not work on Christmas day(today). There were also people who were passing by when the explosion occurred and others in nearby houses, who were affected”, an eye witness said.
It was gathered last night that several buildings near the factory also got burnt.
It was however gathered that the fire incident occurred when the driver of a truck, which brought in gas to the factory, insisted on off loading the contents soon after arrival “because he was going for Christmas”. Sources said that the gas is usually allowed to cool for sometime before being discharged.
Another source said”It’s a pity. As it is now, they have carried up to 20 corpses along the road”
another source, who spoke on condition of anonymity the fire started with a gas explosion killing about six persons on the spot.
The Governor of the state, Chief Willie Obiano, who visited the scene, commiserated with the people of Nnewi, noting that it was a critical period to have casualties.
The governor said he had spoken with the owner of the company, Mr Chika Okafor. He promised to bring more fire trucks to the industrial town.
It was further gathered that charred remains of victims and other badly affected burnt persons in the vicinity of the gas plant were taken to Nnamdi Azikwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH), Nnewi.
It was also learnt that all efforts to get the attention of the Anambra State fire service in the area did not yield any positive result early enough.
However, a fire officer, Mrs. Mary Ofia, excused the fire service personnel in Nnewi, claiming that the Nnewi fire truck was vandalized by angry mob when they went for an operation at Nkpor.
Apart from lives lost to the inferno, many buildings located around the gas plant and over fifty vehicles around the gas plant were equally affected and some dead victims were actually recovered in their homes.
Lamenting his loss, a teenager, who only identified himself as Ikechukwu, said, “My mother was preparing pepper we want to use to cook tomorrow after she returned from the market. The next we heard was the explosion that rocked the entire vicinity. I ran for my life and escaped with minor injury but my mother was not lucky.
“She was not as fast as myself, when the fire came down a little bit, the next thing I saw was her dead body. Look at the chicken we planned to kill tomorrow for Christmas.”
A similar thing happened at another residence where a woman and her daughter were lucky to remain alive after some degrees of burn.
The chairman of Anambra State Red Cross, Prof Peter Katchi, who led the rescue operations, said that he was extremely worried about the presence of many filling stations in residential areas in the state.
He pointed out that the situation would have been worse if the affected gas plant was situated in thickly populated areas.
Katchi pointed out that the Red Cross and the Anambra State Emergency Agency would declare war on owners of filling stations sited at residential areas in the new year.
When the fire fighters from Awka and Okpoko finally arrived, it took the intervention of the security agents to save them from being lynched by angry mob, who questioned why Nnewi Fire Service was not functional.
A combined team of the army, Federal Road Safety Corps, the police and vigilante had a hectic time dispersing the surging crowd to avoid more casualties that could result from more explosions.