Anger, Grief Over East-West Road Fire Disaster

Friday night’s fire in front of Indorama Fertilizer Company gate at the Eleme axis of the East-West Rd near Port Harcourt, which claimed an unspecified number of lives and completely burnt over 120 vehicles has continued to draw anger and grief from people.
The fire occurred at about 8.30pm when a stream of fuel that leaked from a petrol tanker in front of Indorama’s main gate on the road, got ignited by a spark and exploded into a conflagration.
A truck conveying fertiliser from Indorama complex to Onne Port had collided with the petrol tanker and caused a hole from which the content spilled to the ground.
For close to 20 minutes, the petrol continued to leak and flow under the vehicles trapped in the holdup. Some members of the public, according to eyewitnesses, braved the traffic and took the risk of scooping fuel that was spilling out of the tanker.
But about a hundred yards down the road, where some of the fuel had flowed to, a spark from a vehicle’s exhaust pipe ignited the fuel and the resultant fire spread. It spread back to the petrol laden tanker, which exploded and formed a huge ball of fire and thick smoke.
Down the road, people scampered and ran for safety. Some people were caught dead in their cars, while some others were caught by the fire as they tried to escape. In all, 120 vehicles, mainly saloon cars were burnt in the inferno. There were also a few articulated vehicles, three tricycles and about eight passenger buses.
By 9pm, the fire brigade from Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals Company Limited rushed to the scene and after several battles, brought the fire around the tanker under control.
But the long stretch of vehicles on the slope towards the Okulu River continued to burn until the early morning of Saturday when everything in the vehicles had been completely destroyed.
In a few vehicles were the charred remains of victims, whose identities could not be ascertained. One burnt skull was also found in one car, while a body that looked like that of a woman clutching to her child was found at the back of a bus.
Two bodies of people who were apparently escaping the disaster were found in front of Ecobank.
Rivers State Governor, Mr. Siminalayi Fubara, and people from Government House, Port Harcourt visited the scene of the incident Saturday morning
The governor who, expressed grief at the loss of lives and property, noted that the accident could have been avoided if the motorists were cautious.
He said he got a call from the managing director of Indorama Petrochemical and Fertilizer Company Limited, informing him of the incident and he immediately routed a call to security agencies to visit and secure the scene.
He said, “From what we are seeing this morning, it was not a pleasant case. We recorded a huge number of vehicles destroyed and lives lost.”
“I have already asked the relevant agencies to give us a full brief so that we can come into the situation fully by seeing to how much we can support the bereaved families, and also cushion the effect of the losses, which I believe, is no fault of a good number of them.
“We all know the situation of this road. It is really unfortunate. Most of our people, when plying this road, should ply it with caution,” the governor advised.
Mr. Osarogode Thompson, who said he was in the holdup when the fire occurred recalled how he left his car and ran into the bush for 25 minutes. “I had called my family to tell them that I had lost the car in the fire. But to my surprise, I came back to see that my car was not burnt. The car in front was burnt, the car at the back was burnt. I am very grateful to God for sparing my life and my car,” he said.
Another victim, Mr. Amadi, who lost his Haundai bus in the inferno said his effort to escape was blocked by a truck behind him. “So, I opened the door and escaped. I just fixed the windscreen of the bus yesterday,” he said.
There was commotion when onlookers confronted a man who claimed to be the owner of a bus burnt in the accident. He had come blaming his driver for driving the bus into the place. But he got a surprise from the crowd when they turned on him, saying he should have been grateful that no one including, the driver, died in the disaster. He was forced to escape for his life.
The crowd on Saturday morning then chased away some scavengers who had descended on the scene to strip the burnt vehicles and cart away the scraps.
Personnel of the Rivers State Ministry of Transport and Federal Road Safety Corps arrived at about midday to clear the wreckage of the incident to free the road for public use again.
Some people who reacted to the incident blamed the contractors, Reynolds Construction Company Limited (RCC) handling the reconstruction of the road for the accident.
Dr. Joseph Obele, who said he is the chairman of property owners on the Eleme axis of the East West road said, “The poor handling and inability of RCC to provide smooth alternative route or ease of traffic is the root cause of the fire incident.”
Former president, the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, Amaopusenibo Bobo Brown, blamed the failure of Indorama to recognize the risk of having traffic jam in front its complex and take actions to provide smooth traffic and other safety measures as one of the reasons for the tragedy.
Head of Corporate Communications of Indorama, Dr. Jossy Nkwocha, told National Point that Indorama responded promptly to the accident by despatching its fire department to put out the fire. He said those trying to link the company with the incident were mischievous. He denied that the truck that collided with the petrol tanker belonged to Indorama.
The police has not released details of the accident yet. Rivers State Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Grace Iringo-Koko, did not respond to calls to her phone and SMS sent to her on the matter.
The Eleme section of the East-West Rd is being reconstructed many years after it collapsed and put motorists and commuters under intense stress. Reconstruction of the road started in October, 2023 after the Federal Government paid N33billion to the contractors.
Compensation for properties on the right of way of the project were paid in 2022 after a one day shutdown of the road by protesters demanding the reconstruction of the road was carried out. But the payments could only go to property owners from Trailer Park to Refinery Junction.
That was why, National Point fact check, gathered that demolition of houses on the Port Harcourt Refinery to Eleme Junction part of the road was not done.
National Point has consistently relayed the fears and cries of users of the road and concerned Niger Deltans over the state of the road which had long become a death trap.