By CHIEDU UCHE OKOYE

It was a scary moment when fire blazed through the drainages in front of Community Secondary School, Obosi, and Choice De Immaculate Demonstration School, Obosi, Anambra State, on Wednesday night, May 22.

The inferno broke out when a lorry tanker laden with fuel fell across the Idemili-Akuora Obosi bypass, spilling its inflammable liquid contents in drainages and causing vehicular traffic on the road.

The fire broke out when the spilled fuel flowed into disused tyres used for roasting cows’ hide at the Obosi abattoir and meat market, which is adjacent to Choice De Immaculate Demonstration School, Obosi.

Traders and butchers at the Obosi abattoir and meat market lamented their losses caused by the fire. Their chairs, tables, makeshift shops, umbrellas, buckets, and bowls were consumed by the raging fire.

More so, overhead electricity cables supplying electricity to people living in the area and the CCTV camera installed on the gate of Choice De Immaculate Demonstration School, Obosi were licked by the blazing fire.

And the perimeter fence of Choice De Immaculate Demonstration School, Obosi was also slightly affected by the fire.

Eyewitness accounts said that hoodlums trying to rob the driver of the ill-fated lorry of his belongings distracted the driver, causing him to lose control of the lorry tanker.

So the lorry which was ascending the hilly Idemili-Akuora bypass fell across the road, with its head decoupled from the body of the tanker, and burst into flames.

The Wednesday fire incident, which occurred in front of Community School Secondary, Obosi, has highlighted the need for government to build a Fire-Fighting Station at Obosi inland town. Had the incident happened in a more densely populated area of Obosi, many people would have died from the fire incident.

The President General of Obosi Development Union (ODU), Barr. Chimezie Obi, visited the scene of the fire incident to assess the level of damage done by the fire.

He expressed his readiness to execute measures to avert future recurrence of the fire and bus incident while harping on the need for government to build a fire fighting station at Obosi inland town.

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