Posted by By AKEEB ALARAPE, Ibadan on
Not fewer than 35 persons were burnt, Sunday,during an early morning pipeline explosion at Apete area of the ancient city of Ibadan, Oyo State.
Not fewer than 35 persons were burnt, Sunday,during an early morning pipeline explosion at Apete area of the ancient city of Ibadan, Oyo State.
Daily Sun learnt that the explosion occurred from vandalized pipelines belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and affected a fully loaded Mitsubishi Pick-up bus with 28 passengers on board and heading towards Akufo market.
A police source told Daily Sun that the van was conveying traders to the weekly Akufo market when it sighted a police patrol vehicle in its front and decided to park so as to evade the policemen who were actually there to extort money from motorists.
The driver of the commuter bus unknowingly parked at a spot where some villagers were siphoning petroleum products. One thing led to the other and an explosion was said to have occurred.
The source said that most of the passengers, in an attempt to escape the inferno jumped into the bush already soaked in petrol from the vandalised pipelines.
Some of the victims who were rushed to the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, were sighted at the casualty section of the hospital with high degree of burnt. Some of their relatives confirmed that many people actually died at the scene of the explosion while many also sustained serious injuries.
Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Mr Moses Omo Anegbode confirmed the incident to newsmen but said no casualty was recorded from the explosion