Delta Tanker Tragedy: Survivors Recount Ordeal

By Hannah Nathan, Warri

Some drivers and passengers who escaped death in the ill-fated Delta tanker explosion have recounts their ordeals.

The incident reportedly occurred at Ugbenu Koko Junction where a tanker reportedly exploded on Sunday morning along the Warri/Benin Highway, killing dozens of persons including children and women.

According to the police, about five persons died and over 17 vehicles were burnt down but other accounts said dozens of persons died in the inferno that lasted for several hours.

Sources said the tanker fell due to bad roads, adding that the deceased persons were scooping the split fuel from the fallen tanker when it gutted fire, killing dozens of persons.

Congress gathered that several others who sustained varying degrees of injuries are receiving treatment in various hospitals around the vicinity.

One of the survivors who spoke with Vanguard News correspondent is, Onime Osaivbie Gift, he explained how the smoke emitting from another vehicle saved his and seven other passengers’ lives.

“We were on this hold up from 5 pm on Saturday morning when we got here, I drive a Siena bus with Seven passengers and at about 9 pm the hold was not moving at all when we heard that a tanker filled with PMS had fallen and that was why it’s difficult for vehicles to even move.

“We saw them those from the neighbouring community, both youths and even men and women, some persons tried to stop them but they did not leave. They were quarrelling with those who tried to stop them that this was their community and that they would deal with anybody who was trying to stop them, we left them

“We were still in the vehicle when another vehicle that is trying to outmanoeuvred us started omitting black smoke, we had no choice but to get out of our bus and we started moving away from our vehicle when we heard the explosion”

The survivor Mr Osaivbie who narrated his story in tears said his bus was burnt beyond recognition and heaped the blame on the condition of the road.

This was followed by the narration of another driver whose bus got burnt beyond recognition, Moses Atalana narrated that he was pressed and had to find somewhere to ease himself, “I was there when I heard the explosion, as I speak to you my vehicle got burnt beyond the limit, maybe that would have been my faith” he said pointing to the burnt vehicle.

He stated that there are possibilities that more bodies may have recovered from the deadly tanker explosion as some of the survival claimed some persons jumped into the swamp at the height of the inferno.

“we heard some persons shouting in the swamp yesterday early morning after the fire had died down, I am sure bodies will be inside those swamp waters’, Alake, the affected motorist lamented.