The fire engulfed 16 buildings and killed three members of a family.
A petrol tanker fire on Wednesday night consumed 10 shops and six houses in Idi-Iroko town, located in Ipokia Local Government Area of Ogun State.
The inferno claimed the lives of three members of a family. They were said to be have been burnt beyond recognition.
A witness said that the family members were asleep when the fire spread to their home and killed them.
The cause of the inferno was traced to the petrol carrying truck which fell along Ago-Sasa road, spilled its contents and immediately caught fire.
“It was a serious incident, we were already on bed when it happened. A tanker was moving into a nearby filling station to unload its contents when it fell and spilled its content and gutted fire,” the witness said.
“It was so bad because it happened in the night when people were already asleep. A family of three was wiped out when about fifteen people were seriously injured in the inferno,” he said.
The witness told PREMIUM TIMES that a four year old child of the family survived the incident and was receiving treatment at the General hospital in the area as at the time of this report.
When contacted, the Unit Commander of Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, Irunoje Abiodun, confirmed the incident.
He, however, said that the tanker may belong to some smugglers who were trying to move fuel across the border.
Mr. Abiodun said a fuel laden articulated vehicle marked LAGOS AAA 36 XA, lost control and rammed into two other tankers before it went on fire.
“I think there was a spark from the tanker and then it caught fire, the two children and the mother were burnt beyond recognition,” he said.
The FRSC boss said that the men of the command raced to the scene of the incident having received a distress call from people close to the scene.
He said the fire service in Ipokia Local Government was contacted but that the damage had been done before the fire could be curtailed.
He lamented that the mother who was badly injured in the incident later gave up the ghost early Thursday morning at the General Hospital after she was rejected at Adeolu Private Hospital in the area.
“Their bodies had been deposited at the General Hospital Ipokia, while others in critical conditions are still receiving treatment,“ he said.
He urged both commercial and private drivers to observe rules and regulations guiding safe driving.
