Petrol tanker explodes in Rivers State; houses, church burnt

A tanker laddened with petrol, overturned and exploded around Eliozu Bridge on G. U. Ake road, Obio-Akpor Local Government area of Port Harcourt, Rivers State yesterday August 30th. 

The explosion destroyed properties worth millions of Naira. A church, Christ Living Miracle Church, a hotel, four shops, an event and catering center worth over N500 million were razed in the inferno. 

Commenting on the incident, the pastor of the affected church, Bumi Grace, said 

“When the tanker fell and fire started, the electricity transformer close caught fire, exploded and the fire spread the more. Before fire fighters came the thing had gone far.

“The incident will affect our service, but we must gather to worship God. What was destroyed here is over 300 million because we did not remove anything here.

“I was in the house when I received a call that my church is on fire. I got a vision of fire incident, and we organized a prayer and fasting. We finished prayers yesterday own and this morning this thing happened.”

One of the owners of the shops affected, Amaka Ugu, said that this would be the third time a tanker has fallen on that spot and called on the government for prompt attention.

“What I have lost is over a million naira, but my neighbor lost over 12 million because he just came back from market. He sells rugs. “When I woke up somebody called me that another tanker has fallen. This is the third time tanker is falling here this year. The government has to do something about this.”