13 houses, 10 vehicles razed in Onitsha inferno

Thirteen buildings and 10 vehicles were on Wednesday night razed following a fire that engulfed a petrol station along Upper New Market Road in Onitsha, Anambra state.

Daily Trust gathered that the fire started about 8 pm when an articulated truck with petroleum content from Awka road lost control around the Mobil filling station while negotiating the popular DMGS roundabout.

Witnesses said the content of the tanker spilled on the road through the drainage, leading to the spread of the fire which affected other three petrol stations.

They said one of the tanker’s fuel dispensers eventually caught fire, which spread down the road, destroying vehicles and buildings.

One of the victims who gave her name as Juana Oboli, said she lost her residential building to the inferno.

Oboli, a widow who said she laboured for 12 years to put up the structure, appealed to the state government to help her.

Another victim, whose office is located in one of the buildings, could not hold her tears while narrating the loss she incurred to the inferno. “We deal in electronics and furniture and so many other goods. Just look at how our plaza has burnt down completely,” she groaned.

The woman who attributed the incident to the proximity of the filling stations to residential buildings, appealed for assistance from the state government.

Confirming the incident, the Executive Director, State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Dr Paul Odenigbo, said fire fighters from Asaba were called in to assist those from Onitsha and Okpoko when the agency’s water was exhausted.

Also speaking, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) for the police command in the state, ASP Nkeiruka Nwode, said, “We only have five houses burnt, we have like 15 vehicles and five tricycles burnt. I want to thank God who did all these things possible that no life was lost.”