Fuel tanker catches fire on Niger Bridge Onitsha

On Tuesday night, a head-on accident between a truck loaded with gasoline and another vehicle resulted in an explosion that caused panic on the River Niger Bridge in Onitsha, Anambra State.

Relatives close to the scene said that the event, which began about nine o’clock at night, was caused by the tanker driver’s reported irresponsible driving.

The event on the bridge resulted in flames covering the region, despite the fact that no lives were lost, even as firefighters and other rescue operators fought to contain the situation.

When reached, Martin Agbili, the fire chief for Anambra State, confirmed the event and stated that it started at 9:30 p.m.

 “The information is correct, but the fire had already been put out around 9:30pm. It was a head-on collision between two vehicles and the fire was ignited.

“Firefighters and other rescue operators battled to quench the fire and no life was lost. The bridge was not damaged. There is no need for panic.”

Similarly, on Tuesday, commuters found it extremely difficult to get to their various destinations due to a toppled gasoline tanker at Awkuzu.

Martin Agbili, the state fire chief, who verified the occurrence, stated that it occurred at approximately 7:30 a.m.

He said, “At about 7.30am of today 31-10-2023, Anambra State Fire Service received a distress call of a fallen petrol tanker at Awkuzu.

“Immediately, we deployed our firefighters and fire truck to the incident scene.

“No live was lost as we were able to prevent it from catching fire. We want to appreciate the Nigeria Police Force, Army, FRSC in their efforts to control the crowd that were scooping petrol.

“We disengaged from the incident scene at about 1518hrs (3.18pm) after confirming the environment safe.”