Over 60 people burn to death in Ibadan

No fewer than sixty people were burnt beyond recognition
Yesterday evening in Ibadan when a fuel tanker fell at the
popular Molete Under-bridge, splashing it's highly
inflammable content on all objects in sight with an
accompanying inferno.
The accident that occurred around 9 pm left scores dead
and many people injured with varied degrees of injury.
When the Street Journal visited the scene of the accident,
there was commotion as many people were still trying to
find their wards and relatives that just passed though the
area.
Eye witness accounts have it that the fuel tanker that was
coming from Challenge end of Molete had a break failure
and the driver subsequently lost its control before it
rammed into a pole under the bridge, resulting in the fire
disaster.
It was gathered at the scene of the accident that about
dozens of Okada riders and some commuters were caught
up in the ensued fire disaster. Traders by the roadsides
particularly, the bread sellers were roasted like bush meat.
All the adjoining streets had a fair share of the disaster as
casualties figures are expected to rise as many people
were caught unawares in their shops.
A combined team of security operatives and the state
emergency agencies were on ground to ensure that the
number of casualties was drastically brought under
control.
Men of the state fire service were also sighted at the
scene of the fire disaster rescuing people that were
trapped while the entire area was condoned off to ensure
smooth rescue operation by the emergency agency
personnel.
Men of the Nigeria Police were also on ground to maintain
law and order. The leader of the team who spoke with The
Street Journal on condition of anonymity said the
policemen’s presence was aimed at ensuring that
miscreants did not take advantage of the incident to
wreak havoc on innocent people. He said his men were at
the scene of the accident to prevent looting and allied
nefarious activities of area boys in the neighborhood.
An eye witness who simply identified himself as Wasiu
explained to The Street Journal that many youngsters
were under the bridge discussing the sad outcome of the
today’s football match between Nigeria and Sudan which
Nigeria lost by one goal to nil when the accident occurred.
He said he counted no fewer than fifty burnt bodies that
littered the roads. He said that he narrowly escaped death
as he jumped inside the gutter to avoid the rampaging
inferno that trailed the spilled over fuel.