Not less than 38 vehicles, 71 shops, a church, houses, petrol stations and others were razed in Wednesday pipeline fire in Abule Egba area of Lagos, Southwest Nigeria. The explosion was as a result of the activities of suspected bunkerers around the NNPC pipeline in Abule Egba, Ojokoro Local Council Development Area of the State which resulted into massive inferno destroying properties worth millions of Naira.

General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, Adesina Tiamiyu confirmed that 38 vehicles were raged in the inferno.

Tiamiyu disclosed that no loss of lives were recorded, but said “the car lot in a filling station was affected by the inferno as several vehicles parked in the filling station were destroyed. He gave the loss and damaged inventory of the inferno which ravaged 9 street as following:

38 vehicles were destroyed, 4 tricycles were destroyed, 71 shops destroyed, 30 rooms destroyed, 2 blocks of flat destroyed, I church auditorium destroyed, while several other properties were salvaged around the axis including the Justrite Mall, Petol Stations and other facilities around Abule Egba Bus Stop to Awori U Turn.”

According to him, LASEMA and other stakeholders responded to the fire outbreak promptly, noting that no fatality was recorded and that few people injured were immediately administered to by the Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS) and the agency’s paramedics.

General Manager further disclosed that the incident occurred at about 2.00am on Wednesday, saying that “on arrival at the incident scene, “the spillage from the bunkering activities came in contact with an ignitable source, the impact resulted in inferno as it ravaged several houses and cars.”

He said that the prompt intervention by the Lagos State Fire Servicemen and LASEMA Response Unit, LRU fire men, who immediately deployed fire trucks and personnel to combat the inferno, helped in curtailing the further spread of the fire to adjoining buildings and also the nearest filling station in the area.

The LASEMA boss also said that investigation was still ongoing as to the cause and people involved in the incident, assuring Lagosians and people residing in the area that the situation was under control.

He said people were free to go about their normal business activities and that they should ensure they report any suspicious activities through the emergency toll free line 112/767 to avoid unfortunate incident such as this.