Mother,  daughter, vulcaniser burnt as tanker explodes in Ogun

A woman, her daughter and a vulcaniser on Saturday suffered varying degrees of burns after a petrol-laden tanker fell and exploded at Atatun, Ijaiye-Tutun, in Abeokuta on Friday evening.

According to an eyewitness, the victims were  immediately  rushed to the  Federal Medical Centre, Idi-Aba, Abeokuta.

At least five houses and several shops  were  burnt  in the incident.

A witness told newsmen  that the tanker had a flat tyre and its driver parked on the roadside to fix it.

“The  tanker had a flat tyre  and in the process of trying to fix  it, the tanker exploded and even the vulcaniser who was  to work on the tyre was affected.

“The vulcaniser was fixing a motorcycle tyre when the tanker exploded.

“There were many houses that were affected, with some burnt to ashes. In fact, a mosque was also affected,” she said.

Babatunde Akinbiyi, the Public Relations Officer of the Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps, said the fire was later put out after some houses had been burnt.

He said the tanker driver erroneously parked in a slope area while trying to fix his tanker’s tyre .

According to him, the container unhooked, fell and exploded.