A mother and daughter of a village head, as well as a vulcaniser, suffered varying degrees of burns after a petrol-laden tanker fell and exploded at Atatun, Ijaiye-Tutun along Alamala Barracks in Abeokuta, Ogun State on Friday.
The victims were rushed to the Federal Medical Centre, Idi-Aba, Abeokuta.
About five houses and several shops reportedly got burnt to ashes in the incident
An eyewitness identified only as Mrs Olufote told ThePUNCH that the incident happened when a fuel tanker suffered a flat tyre.
She said the driver parked beside the road to fix the flat tyre unaware she was parking at a sloppy area.
She added that as he alighted from the vehicle to negotiate with a vulcaniser beside the road, the tanker tilted and the container fell.
She identified the victims as Ashimiyu Otunba (vulcaniser), the woman as Risikatu Otunba and the daughter whose name could not be ascertained as of the time of filing this report.
The spokesperson for the state Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps, Babatunde Akinbiyi, confirmed the incident.
Akinbiyi said the fire was later put out after some houses had been burnt to ashes.
He said the tanker driver mistakenly parked at a sloppy place while fixing his vehicle’s tyre. According to him, the container detached from the hook, fell and exploded.
