By SULEIMAN SHEHU

Two persons were killed while several shops and vehicles were burnt on Friday when a tanker laden with diesel fell around Moniya area of Ibadan and burst into flames.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the incident led to traders, commuters and residents of the area scampering for safety as the inferno continued to increase with high intensity.

The extent of damage and fatality, however, could not yet be ascertained as of the time of filing this report as firemen and sympathisers battled to put out the fire.

Eyewitnesses told NAN that the fire started when the diesel laden tanker skidded.

One of the eyewitnesses, Mr Tunde Adedayo, said that officials of the State Fire Service arrived at the scene about 35 minutes after the fire started.

Adedayo said that there was a loud blast followed immediately by a huge ball of fire with thick cloud of smoke while the fire kept burning every item on its path.

“The diesel tanker had skidded and people started running up and down.

”There was confusion everywhere and people were crying for help.

“No one could move near the fire and everybody was scrambling for safety,” Adedayo said.

The Chief Fire Officer in Oyo State Fire Service, Mr Adewuyi Moshood, said his men arrived at the scene in good time considering the distance they covered to get to the spot of the incident.

“The fire started when a fully laden tanker conveying diesel lost control while descending the slope beside a filling station at Moniya.

“The brake failed and the vehicle crushed a vehicle going to Ogbomoso.

“One passenger, who was trapped in the vehicle got burnt. One other life was also lost but we are yet to determine the number of casualties in the incident,” Moshood said. (NAN)

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