A teenage boy looking forward to write this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) of the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB), as well as the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has been killed after a tanker loaded with Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol exploded along the Lagos – Abeokuta Expressway.
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) confirmed the incident on Friday, saying it occurred at about 2:06am.
NEMA gave the name of the 15-year-old boy who died as Oluwatobi Lawal, saying the inferno consumed 42 makeshift shops.
It explained that the tanker was conveying 45,000 litres of petrol before it crashed and spilled its content on the road.
The incident occurred at the Ajegunle Bus-Stop of Alagbado (a border community) axis of the highway, causing gridlock as residents ran for safety.
According to NEMA, emergency responders swiftly arrived at the scene.
It said that officials of the Lagos State Fire Service handled the raging inferno from the Lagos end, while their counterparts from the Ogun State Fire Service faced it from the Ogun side of the road.
NEMA added that the fire has been put out, but said responders were in the process of mopping up the area to enable free flow of traffic again.
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