Several residents of Ikot Ntuen Oku, in the suburb of Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, have been rescued from being consumed by the raging inferno resulting from the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) – cooking gas explosion, LEADERSHIP Friday learnt.
The incident, eyewitnesses say, forced the local residents to scamper from their adjoining homes and shops for safety upon hearing the loud explosion.
Dr Benson Udom, a nearby resident who was at the scene of the incident, told our Correspondent that it took his swift reaction to call the fire service team, who also responded quickly. „ Otherwise, the inferno would have engulfed several homes and more properties with unsuspecting people, especially children, trapped inside.“
Dr Udom, a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Humanities at the Obio Akpa campus of Akwa Ibom State University (AKSU), said his family alerted him while in school to put through the distress call to a senior fire officer, who quickly mobilised fire-fighting operatives from the state fire department in conjunction with the federal counterpart to the scene.
According to him, although no life was lost, the fire razed down the commercial LPG shop and the adjoining hairdressing salon and was breezing to engulf other buildings when the two fire trucks arrived to combat it to a standstill.
„When the explosion from a commercial cooking gas outlet near my house occurred, my family alerted me immediately while in school. I quickly called a senior fire officer, who mobilised ground men to the scene,“ he explained.
Benson regretted what he described as government insensitivity regarding the sanctity of human lives, with policies and programmes that only serve to undermine the welfare of the people.
The varsity don spoke against the backdrop of the indiscriminate proliferation of LPG outlets in residential buildings across the state, which pose attendant dangers to human lives, properties, public assets, and utilities.
Therefore, he urged the government to clamp down on illegal commercial cooking gas operators and relocate such businesses to isolated areas to safeguard the population from the dangers of being consumed by explosions arising from cooking gas flares.
Besides, he stressed the need to deregulate the state fire service by removing it from the Ministry of Works to become a special independent outfit for quick response to emergencies.
Meanwhile, the National Orientation Agency (NOA) in the state has launched sensitisation and enlightenment programmes, warning LPG operators against citing cooking gas shops around residential buildings and asking residents to report such illegal outfits to concerned authorities for action.
The state director of NOA, Mr Mkpoutom Mkpoutom, explained that the warning became necessary following incessant cases of gas explosions in various parts of Nigeria and Akwa Ibom and cautioned residents to be wary.
