A little girl who sustained grave degrees of injury as a result of yesterday [Saturday] gas explosion, is in critical condition at the trauma center in Ondo.
A resident who confirmed this development to Saharareporters on Sunday afternoon said the little girl was one of the people that ran for safety when the gas tank exploded after residents were panicked and ran in different directions.[slideshow]36671[/slideshow]
“The girl is in a critical condition at the trauma Centre because she was first rushed to the State General hospital in Akure with a third-degree burn after the gas tank explosion. We are just praying she would survive it”, said a resident who witnessed the explosion.
Eyewitnesses had yesterday night [Saturday] told journalists that several people were badly injured as a result of the explosion and fireball that engulfed their neighborhood, but on Sunday, the Ondo state government denied media reports and claimed that only eight persons were seriously affected.
Same Sunday, it was gathered that two gas tanks wereinvolved in the explosion.
The first explosion occurred at about 5: 45 pm and destroyed houses including a popular local beer garden in the vicinity while a second explosion occurred at 6 pm and causing an inferno that spread to several shops and residential buildings in the area.
More than ten shops and seven residential buildings were burnt with goods and properties worth millions of naira destroyed.
Mr. Akiode Saheed, head of operations of Ekiti State National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), who visited the scene with his team, narrated that immediately they got a distress call, his men moved into Akure and have been assessing the situation. He claimed that those who were seriously injured have been taken to the hospital. According to him, five persons were critically injured with severe burns and had been taken to the trauma center in Ondo town while three persons whose condition could be managed In Akure have remained at the Accident and Emergency ward of the State General hospital in Akure.
Ondo State Commissioner for Housing and Urban Development, Bade Omoloja, disclosed that the location of the gas tank had “no government approval” and that the owner would be sanctioned.
The state governor, Olusegun Mimiko, also visited the scene. He condemned the handling of the explosion adding that the government did not authorize the owner of the gas tank to locate his business in the area.
“This is a gas filling outfit right in the middle of where you have residential dwellings as it were. The owner applied to set public facilities here in May (2014) to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development and by June the Ministry wrote a letter rejecting the approval but yet he [owner] went ahead to expose the lives of people to danger. This is not acceptable and it is very sad.”, Mr. Mimiko claimed. The governor could however not explain how the existence of the huge gas tanks he claimed had been denied approval eluded the attention of state regulatory officials.
Gov. Mimiko further expressed disappointment at officials of the Fire Service in the state who came to the scene at a late hour after placement of several distressed calls to their office.
“I am looking into the issue of late arrival of the fire truck and we are going to investigate, fully, circumstances of what happened yesterday [Saturday]”.
He commiserated with the victims of the incident and promised to look into compensation for those who lost legitimate properties to the explosion.
“We commiserate with those who lost properties in the inferno. We pray that those that sustained injuries would survive. We shall look into the location of the gas tank in this vicinity and sanction those who flouted government rules”.
“If anybody who had complied with the rules of locating shops here lost legitimate properties we would think of compensating them.”, Mimiko stated before departing the scene of the explosion.
Although, government denied giving an authorization for location of the gas tank on the scene, residents confirmed to journalists that there had been complicity of government officials who constantly received bribes from the owner to keep his business in the area.
Saharareporters contacted one of the sales boys in the gas shop who gave the name of the company as “Crustal Exploration Water Service Nigeria Limited” and claimed the tank was owned by one Gbegudu Ololade, an indigene of the town.
The sales boy who spoke under the condition of anonymity spoke to us saying, “I don’t know if my boss was not authorized to put his gas tank here but I can tell you that government officials like the task force team usually come here and threaten us. We would always package an envelope full of cash for them.
“There was a day they came here and marked our shop for demolition. I had to call my boss because he was traveling, and he told me to give them all the money made from sales for that day. So, they have been coming here and collecting money from us”, he said.
December 14, 2014