By Nneka Nwogwugwu
A petrol tanker has explode at a Mobil Filling Station at Idi-Oro, in the Mushin area of Lagos State on Wednesday.
The fire was said to have spread to an adjoining three-storey building, burning down the property.
The fire also destroyed property worth millions of naira and rendered many occupants of the building homeless, the Punch reported.
Among the emergency responders at the scene were the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, National Emergency Management Agency, Lagos State Fire Service, Federal Fire Service, University of Lagos Fire Service, Disaster Management Unit of the Lagos State Police Command, Federal Road Safety Corps and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.
The filling station was cordoned off by the Lagos State Safety Commission.
The management of the Mobil Filling Station, in a statement on Wednesday, said it was investigating the cause of the incident, adding that measures would be put in place to forestall a recurrence.
The statement read, “11 Plc management (operator of Mobil Service Station) would like to bring to the attention of the general public that there was a fire incident at one of our retail service stations (filling station) at Idi-Oro, Mushin, this afternoon during the product discharge operation.
The Director of the Lagos State Fire Service, Mrs Margaret Adeseye, also in a statement, said the agency got a call to the incident around 1.17pm.
She explained that the agency mobilised other responders in combating the inferno.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that it was a 33,000 tanker that was fully laden with Premium Motor Spirit, otherwise known as petrol, that was on fire.
“Although the cause of the disaster had yet to be ascertained, officials of the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service remain on top of the situation and would provide necessary updates as situation demands,” she added.