2 dead as fire guts filling station in Abia

Two men were confirmed dead in a fire outbreak at Chibyno filling station along Alaoji–Ikot-Ekpene Road in Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State on Wednesday morning.

The incident was confirmed by the Zonal Commander of Abia State Fire Service, Mr Belenta Belenta, on Wednesday.

Belenta, who spoke from the scene, said that he suspected that the victims were involved in oil bunkering which might have informed the discharging of petroleum products at the station at the wee hours of the day.

He disclosed that over five trucks were consumed by the inferno which was caused by an explosion at the site of the incident.

The zonal commander added that the officers of the Fire Service were informed of the incident in the early hours of Wednesday, prompting their move to the scene where they employed all tactics to quench the fire.

Belenta noted that police operatives have also visited the scene to take the corpse of one of the victims who died immediately at the scene to the mortuary.

Belenta said at the time of speaking with NAN, the other victim who was rushed to the hospital had been reported dead also.

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Another witness, who only gave his name as Nnamdi, said he lived in the area and was awakened by calls at about 5am to come to the scene of the fire.

Nnamdi said: “Very early this morning around 5 a.m., some persons called me to tell me that there is a fire outbreak at a nearby filling station called Chibyno Filling Station at the Ikot-Ekpene/Alaoji Roa.

“We called fire fighters who came to the scene which had snowballed into a very big inferno that covered the whole filling station.

“The filling station had four trucks which were discharging fuel at the same time.

“We learnt that there was a little spark from the generating set they were using to pump the fuel into their tank which resulted in an explosion,” he narrated.

Nnamdi said one person died at the scene on Wednesday morning while another burnt victim was rushed to the hospital.

Efforts made to reach the Abia State Public Relations Officer, SP Geoffrey Ogbonna, failed as he did not take his calls.

The Star