Traders at the Abubakar Gummi Central Market, Kaduna, and those who trooped into the market for Christmas purchases were yesterday thrown into pandemonium as a 33,000 -litre tanker burst into flames while in the process of discharging its content at the OANDO filling station located at the entrance of the market.
This is coming barely a week after Kaduna experienced a bomb explosion that killed many with properties worth millions of naira destroyed.
LEADERSHIP SUNDAY correspondents were around the market at the time of the incident that lasted several hours, forcing traders around the area to close shops, just as the ever-busy Ahmadu Bello Way was quickly deserted. Vehicles were seen searching for escape routes.
Angry youths watched the burning tanker helplessly for almost an hour before the arrival of the State Fire Service. They stoned and smashed the windscreen of the fire fighter’s van, leaving one person injured.
It, however, took the prompt intervention of the combined forces of the police and army to bring the situation under control before the fire fighters could gain access to the scene of the fire.
As at the time of filing this report, the tanker was still burning, as men of the fire service could not put off the fire with their mini water tanker.
Many traders around the filling station were seen struggling to move out their valuables for fear of possible extension of the fire to their shops.
It was gathered from an eyewitness who prefered anonymity that the fire was caused by an electric spark from the battery of the tanker.
According to another eyewitness who identified himself as Nura Abubakar, a recharge card vendor in front of the filling station, “The tanker just came to offload fuel. Suddenly I saw small fire from the battery of the tanker and before we could call the attention of the filling station people, the fire got to the tank of the vehicle loaded with petrol and went in flames”.
Efforts by our correspondents to speak with the driver of the tanker and the filling station owner proved abortive as they could not speak due to shock from the inferno.
Our correspondents also confirmed that for over 90 minutes, as the tanker was still burning, there was no sign of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) or State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA).