A gas explosion, reportedly occurred on Friday evening in Gwagwa community in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja has left six residents of the area with various degrees of injuries, who are being treated in different hospitals.
It was gathered that the incident occurred when a tanker conveying the explosive suddenly developed mechanical fault started discharging smoke, followed by naked fire, as it was passing through a major road in the community.
The incident, which led residents and passers-by to scamper for safety caused a major gridlock on the road.
Although, no life was lost in the melee, but properties worth millions of naira, especially those within the roadside, where the incident occurred were burnt to ashes.
It was gathered that men of FCT Fire Service, who came to the community to help put of the fire were stoned and chased away by angry residents, who complained that the firemen did not come early enough, especially at the time they were needed.
Eye witness account has it that the firemen were chased away by residents because they came to the scene of the fire incident very late, after fire had already destroyed properties and caused injuries to some residents.
“The coming of men of the FCT Fire Service to the scene of the fire incident was almost useless. This because at the time they arrived the area, the fire incident had already subsided and brought under control.
Their closest office, which is in Dei-Dei, is about 10 minutes drive to the scene of the fire incident, but they arrived the area more than one hour after the fire started. So many people believed that their arrival to the fire scene is not needed,” he said.
