it was gathered that the fire started in a restaurant at 8, Ijaiye Road around 7.30am. It was learnt that a cook was preparing food on a stove, while a worker at a gas depot in the same compound identified simply as Benjamin, was also filling a gas cylinder, which ignited the fire.
Apart from the restaurant and gas depot, there are six other shops in the compound, two of which were completely razed, while the gas depot’s bus with registration number XR 107 LSD, was also burnt.
Two buildings next to the compound including one housing a branch of Finbank were partially affected by the inferno, which lasted about three minutes.
A witness, who identified himself simply as Shina, said, “Around 7.30am, one of the ladies working in the restaurant was cooking food while Benjamin was also refilling a gas cylinder. Suddenly, fire broke out, and began to spread, gutting the battery workshop and even consuming the delivery bus used in conveying gas cylinders.
“Luckily, no one was killed as the men of the fire service came just in time to douse the flames. Benjamin was not so lucky as he sustained serious burns and was taken to Blue Cross Hospital, Ogba, where he is now receiving treatment. Surprisingly, the lady who was cooking was not affected at all.”
Another man, who refused to identify himself, but claimed to be Benjamin’s relative, said he had complained to the landlady many times about the manner in which the restaurant prepared food near the depot, adding that all his warnings were not heeded.
“This gas depot has been here for over 12 years and this sort of thing has never happened before. I told them to be careful with the way they cooked around there, but they quarreled with me and even went ahead to install a generator, which now faces the gas depot. I knew sooner or later this sort of thing would happen,” he said.
A resident of the compound, who identified himself simply as Seun, said they did not expect an explosion to occur because all the shops had an agreement on how they operated.
“Usually, the restaurant does all the cooking in the morning before the gas depot opens. Besides, whenever they wanted to refill a gas cylinder, they would enter their shop to do it. However, since Benjamin was a new attendant, he was probably unmindful of this,” he said.
Residents in the area as well as members of staff of Finbank who gathered outside to see the extent of the damage, said they thought it was a bomb explosion but were thankful that no one was killed and the fire service responded quickly.
No comments:
Post a Comment