A tanker load of petrol which fell at Upper Iweka junction in Onitsha, Anambra State, was said to have exploded as a result of the fire from a nearby spot where a woman fries Akara on the roadside. It was gathered that the Zonal Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), in the Southeast, Major Eze, had narrated that the trailer conveying Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) had fallen on the spot of explosion, saying that the explosion was “as a result of the fire from a woman frying Akara on the roadside.” The accident occurred at Upper Iweka junction along Onitsha-Owerri Road, close to the popular Relief Market at Onitsha, Ogbaru Local Government Area, Anambra State.
The inferno from the explosion burnt houses within the vicinity, and also killed a number of persons yet to be identified. According to the Southeast Zonal Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the number of casualties from the explosion is yet to be ascertained. He, however, said that the inferno had been contained.
The fire and thick smoke that spread into the air caused panic in the neighbourhood before the intervention of some agencies that include fire fighters from Anambra and nearby Delta State.