20 sustain injury as petrol tanker explodes in Kaduna

No fewer than 20 people including firefighters and vigilante members were injured at a fuel station in the Rigasa community of Kaduna when a tanker exploded and caught fire last Wednesday.

The firefighters and vigilante members were said to be putting off the fire which engulfed the tanker while it was offloading fuel at the filling station, when it exploded throwing the entire community into fear and confusion.

Journalists were told that those who sustained injuries included 5 firefighters, operatives of the Kaduna State Vigilante Service, and some persons who stood close to the fuel station to watch the inferno.

Kaduna State Director of Fire Service, Mr Paul Aboi, said his men who were injured were rushed to a Specialist hospital for treatment and accused the management of the affected fuel station of negligence.

According to him, it was wrong for the filling station to offload petrol in the afternoon.

He said the right thing to do was to offload the fuel at night to avoid endangering the lives of people in the process.

A woman who said that the fire had affected their family home close to the filling station, claimed that her brother and his son were in critical condition due to severe burns from the explosion.

The Kaduna Police Command was yet to react to the incident.