On Thursday, July 12, 2012, the entire country was thrown into another moment of mourning, following a fuel tanker fire disaster that sent scores of people to their early graves in Ula-Okogbe community in Ahoada-East Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Ula-Okogbe is a small community on the bank of Orashi River and situates along the ever-busy but tiny and dilapidated East-West Road. The community is about six hours drive from Port Harcourt, the state capital, and less than 15 minutes drive from Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa State, the home-state of President Goodluck Jonathan.
The East-West Road, which has been under construction for the past eight years, connects the states in the South-South geo-political zone of the country to other states in the South-West and North-Central geo-political zones.
Eye-witness account had it that the incident occurred at about 6.30am when the fuel-laden tanker, in an attempt to avoid an accident scene involving a commercial bus and a Toyota car, skipped off the road and fell, thereby spilling its content in the process.
Local natives of Ula-Okogbe and other neighbouring communities in the area were said to have rushed down the scene of the incident with jerry-cans to scoop fuel, despite warnings by the driver of the heavy-duty vehicle that the tanker may explode within minutes. In a twinkle of an eye, the whole area where the fuel spilled was engulfed in flames, burning several people into ashes.
The charred remains of the victims showed that some of them were caught while trying to run away from the fire, as some of the corpses had their tongues and intestines protruding and scattered in the bush, just near the Oando filling station.
Some of the villagers who were lucky to recognise their dead relatives threw themselves on the ground crying, while scores of travellers, motorists, and sympathisers held their head in disbelief at the sight of the tragedy.
It was learnt that the fire was ignited by a youth who tried to put a call across to his friends to come and partake in the fuel scooping, even as most of the victims, including men, women and a boy of about eight years were burnt beyond recognition.
While natives, who assisted in the evacuation of burnt bodies, said over 200 people were roasted in the inferno, top officials of the Rivers State Government and the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) gave different figures, respectively.
The Commissioner for Special Duties, Chief Emeka Nwogu, who was at the scene of the incident, put the number of deaths to 100 and number of those injured at over 50, while the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Sampson Parker, who also visited the scene of the incident agreed that the casualty figure was up to 200.
On his part, the FRSC Sector Commander in the state, Dr. Kayode Olagunju, disclosed that a total of 95 persons were killed in the incident while 18 persons were injured.
According to Nwogu, doctors at Ahoada General Hospital, where 32 out of the 50 wounded persons were taken to, said there could be more casualties considering the degree of burnt suffered by the victims.
In a text message, Olagunju said: “There is a fatal crash at Okogbe about 11 kilometres from Ahoada-Mbiama on the East-West Road in Rivers State. The accident occurred around 06.30 hours. A tanker laden with petrol crashed with three other vehicles.
“A Toyota Corolla, Toyota (Hummer) bus and a Mitsibushi bus, 34 motorcycles also got burnt. People were scooping fuel from the fell tanker, when the tanker exploded. FRSC, police, fire service, JTF are at the scene. Final casualty figures on the Okogbe tanker crash incident: 93 died on the spot (burnt), two died in hospital, 18 persons were injured.”
Parker, who broke down in tears when he visited the victims at the Ahoada General Hospital, described the incident as a national disaster.
He said: “I don’t think anything like this has happened, even in areas where there is bomb blast, Boko Haram and plane crashes. I think this is the worst single disaster that has ever happened in Nigeria, because I don’t know where else.
“The corpses I counted there alone were 200 and they have not finished counting. It is cremation. Corpses were burnt to ashes. So how many can you count? It is a sad situation.”
Most of those who commented on the tragic incident, including the traditional ruler of Igbiguya Clan, Ekpeye Kingdom, Ahoada West, Eze Joshua Ibiya, blamed it on poor state of the East-West Road and the poverty in the area, and Niger Delta as a whole, as well as ignorance.
Ibiya said: “If the roads were good, this incident would not have happened. We counted about 139 corpses at this place (pointing into the hollow space). Over 100 people were taken to the hospital.”
Apparently worried by the tragic incident, Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, immediately ordered a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the fuel tanker fire incident, saying “we must stop this needless loss of lives.”
The governor also directed that no cost must be spared to ensure the best medical attention and care for the wounded victims.
Amaechi, who condoled with the families of those who lost their lives in the incident, also expressed regret over the avoidable tragedy.
He commended the members of the public who assisted in the rescue operations as well as the federal and state agencies involved in the rescue operations and advised that people of the state should always be safety conscious as nothing was worth the sanctity of life.??
Just as some sympathizers said, the main cause of the fuel tanker fire incident and many other tragic road accidents that occur on the East-West Road remains the bad state of the federal road, which has been undergoing dualization for almost one decade.
The Federal Government needs to act very fast in putting the road, and other federal roads in the country, in good shape to avoid frequent loss of precious lives.