A Widow Revealed She Dashed Into The Fire To Save Her Children. 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.

Mrs. Ruth Joseph, 38, and her three children were among lucky people that narrowly escaped being roasted alive following the Abule-Egba pipeline explosion on Wednesday. Ruth and her seven-year-old son, Samuel, are presently in severe pains after they were caught in the fire, But they are alive to tell the story.

On Wednesday, an early morning pipeline explosion rocked the Abule- Egba, Ojokoro area of Lagos State, leaving people injured and many homeless.

The explosion was alleged to have been triggered by activities of vandals, assisted by policemen from Oko-Oba Police Station. Although nobody died in the incident, but a few people sustained injuries, and were rushed to hospital. Ruth and her son were among those that got injured. Ruth, a food hawker, said that she sustained burns as she was trying to save her seven-year-old son, Samuel in their apartment. Ruth, who moaned and groaned in pains as she moved in bed, recounted: “I was in a deep sleep when my younger sister, living with me, raised the alarm that fire had entered our apartment.
I jumped up and saw the room was filled with heavy smoke.” She further said: “I was able to carry my two kids outside, but the compound was filled with smoke and it was choking. I took my children to the next street where the smoke was less. I rushed back to pick my second son, Samuel, who was still in a deep sleep. Everywhere had become hot. I couldn’t leave him. I had no choice. I dashed into the room and grabbed Samuel. I carried him out of the room. “It was in the process that I sustained the burns. My son too got burnt.

 I never knew that our house was close to pipeline. If I had known, I wouldn’t have rented the house. I came to this community after I could no longer afford the rent where we used to live when my husband was alive. I’m grateful to God that nobody in my house died. If not for God, I don’t know what would have happened to me and my children.” Ruth appealed to members of the public to come to help her, stressing that she needed financial assistance to relocate from the community and fend for her children.
Ruth commended the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Edgal Imohimi, who had earlier visited her. She disclosed that Imohimi paid her medical bills at the Ikeja University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH). Supporting his mother, young Samuel appealed to Nigerians to assist his mother, so that they could move to a safer community. Ruth and her son are not the only ones thanking God for sparing their lives. Evangelist Adojo Osagie, who lives in one of the buildings affected by the explosion, said that God had been too kind to him.
Osagie was living in a building that had eight flats and all the flats were destroyed. He described himself as lucky among other tenants because he was able to retrieve some of his property before the fire latched onto his flat. Osagie said: “I live with my four kids, wife and aged mother. My mother cannot walk without help.
On that fateful day, after our night prayer, I slept off. At about 2pm, one of my daughters started shouting, father fire! Father fire! I jerked up and saw fire. I opened my door to see if I could find out where the fire was coming from. I ran to the kitchen and the fire was not coming from there. I quickly removed the gas cylinder and moved it outside. I saw that the fire was heavy in other flats. I woke my wife and other children.
We ran away, forgetting my aged mother. I was confused. It was my wife that asked of my mother. I shouted and ran back into the apartment. I carried my mother. Every day, I pray in that flat and some of my neighbours used to complain that I was disturbing them. I never listened to them because I cannot listen to human beings other than God. It was God and my prayers that saved me.” Mr Suru Oguntoyinbo, a mechanic, who had 10 cars in his workshop destroyed, said that some of the cars had been repaired, only waiting for the owners to pick them. Oguntoyinbo stated: “Some of my customers have been informed. Some of them didn’t say anything; I believe it’s because they are confused right now.
I don’t even know what to say.” He blamed the state government for not securing the pipeline properly from vandals. A community leader, Honourable Fatima Aduke Mohammed, who brought food and clothes to people that lost their homes and property, described as tragic, the fact that state government officials had not deemed it fit to visit the scene of the inferno and the victims. According to her, such action showed that the government was less concerned about the plight of the people.