Spillage from a petrol-laden tanker at the Barracks bus stop on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway,  on Wednesday caused an explosion, claimed two lives and destruction of properties.

CEOAfrica news source learnt that the 33,000-litre capacity tanker entered a bad portion of the road, fell while its contents spilled.

It was gathered that the fire started around 4am, and was ignited by the spark from the exhaust pipe of a vehicle allegedly conveying smuggled frozen fish.

The fire also claimed six vehicles, including a Mack truck transportin generators to the Alaba International Market.

One of the residents at the area, who identified simply as John, told our news source that the truck transporting the generators had developed a fault as it got stuck on the road, while the tanker was trying to pass through the bad portions of the road to avoid the truck fell.

According to him; “The container-carrying truck conveying the generators broke down; it had a battery problem. The tanker was trying to manoeuvre its way around the truck when it fell.

“As soon as the tanker fell, its content started spilling out but the fire did not start immediately. The fire was ignited when the vehicle that was used for smuggling fish passed through the polluted water and there was a spark from its exhaust pipe.

“Since the truck could not be moved away from the road, it caught fire too and was burning until fire service personnel came to the rescue.”

The Unit Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC,  Iba Command, Joseph Orga, said the command was called around 6.45am.

He stated, “From the information I gathered, the fire started around 2.30am but we were called around 6.45am. The military, Federal Road Safety Corps, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and fire service were on the ground to arrest the situation. Six vehicles were involved; two people died and one is still in the hospital; we will follow up on the victim’s situation.

“The information we got was that one of the deceased was the driver of the vehicle transporting smuggled goods and the other person was a passenger in the vehicle. We contacted the Divisional Police Officer of the Onireke Police Station and we are waiting for the families of the victims to come and identify them and provide their profile, after which the bodies can be released to them,” he added.