A petrol tanker laden with diesel on Wednesday night exploded at Upper New Market Road, by DMGS Roundabout, Onitsha, destroying buildings, vehicles and properties worth millions of naira.

Fire fighting men and a large dispatch of security personnel ranging from the Police, Army, Civil Defence, Road Safety and the Red Cross were on ground to assist in quenching the inferno.

According to eye witnesses, the tanker driver was negotiating the DMGS roundabout when it slipped and fell with a loud thud causing explosion immediately and spreading fire to several buildings, offices and shops within the area.

Meanwhile, the Anambra State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Tony Nnacheta, decried the enormity of the disaster but remained grateful to God that no life is lost.

While the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr. Johnson Kokumu commended the effort of the police in warding off miscreants who wanted to turn the incident to their benefit.

However, the state Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Mr Sunday Ajayi, noted that “there will be an investigation into what caused the falling of the tanker as the driver should, ordinarily, be able to navigate the roundabout, if truly he is a driver”.