THE Lagos State Fire Service said its officials could not arrive on time to the scene of gas explosion in Ajegunle, Lagos State because of traffic congestion along the road.
The explosion which claimed the lives of 2 children and left several people injured, according to the Lagos Fire Service Officials, was said to have happened on Wednesday evening at Aduke Street, off Ojo Road, Ajegunle area of Apapa.
Acting Director, Lagos Fire Service, Margaret Adeseye, told The ICIR that the Lagos Fire Service couldn’t attend to the incident because of the traffic congestion along the road.
Her response was communicated to The ICIR through a spokesperson of the fire service.
“By the time we got there, the Federal Fire Service had already gotten there and we were advised to leave the area because according to them, tension had already built up in the area so because of that we couldn’t attend to it,” he said
“Because it’s very close to Apapa, Tankers and Trailers have already overrun the road, those are the challenges we faced,” the spokesperson added.
He said the Federal Fire Service advised the Lagos Fire Service to vacate the scene because tension had already built up and they could be subjected to attack.
He told The ICIR that the distress call was placed at exactly 04:44 pm but considering the traffic congestion they could not make it to the scene on time.
The ICIR spoke with an officer of the Federal Fire Service Control Room who disclosed that the distress called was placed to the Federal Fire Service at exactly 5:16 pm and was attended to around 5:21pm.
Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via labolade@icirnigeria.org, on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94