An eyewitness, Josephine Ekeh, said that the fire started from the main building of the petrol station after a sudden explosion that consumed a tanker load of fuel parked in the premises trying to offload.
It was reliably gathered that the fire which started in the early hours of the day, sent the workers of the petrol station into panic as they ran helter-skelter to seek the help of fire service men.
Sympathisers who thronged the scene of the incident to assist in putting out the fire described the disaster as a tragedy for the owner of the petrol station and his workers who had planned to enjoy the Christmas and New Year celebrations.
One of them who spoke to our correspondent, Maureen Agho, noted that the fire outbreak might have been worsened by the harmattan season and called on the state government to relocate owners of houses close to petrol stations.
Investigation revealed that the fire outbreak started when a tanker load of fuel attempted to offload fuel but the owner of the petrol station who did not want his name in print but popularly called Sly said, “I thank God that the firemen came to my rescue; they came very promptly and started putting out the fire; otherwise, it would have consumed all the houses including the fast food centres around the petrol station”.
He said that the inferno caused chaos as people who trooped into Macdons Fast Food Centre to celebrate Christmas began to run helter-skelter for safety.
Although no life was lost in the fire outbreak, properties worth millions of naira were destroyed before the arrival of officers of the State Fire Service while a pregnant woman and her baby sustained severe injuries.
Speaking to our correspondent, the pregnant woman who gave her name as Elizabeth Obuh said, “I live beside the filling station and when the fire started, I and my two-year-old baby rushed to the scene but the smoke and part of the fire got us injured.
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