By Ngwuoke Ngwuoke

It was black Saturday in Enugu as a tanker laden with fuel crashed at Ugwu Onyeama on the Enugu Onitsha express way, sending not less than 15 men to their untimely death.

Reports of the incident filtered into town in viral video clips showing a thick smoke from the burning tanker and charred remains of some of the victims.

Reports say the tanker which was descending the steep hill, had break failure ramming into a number of vehicles the impact of which resulted in a conflagration.

Sounds of wailing and anguish filled the air as some of the burning bodies were reduced to ashes.

Governor Peter Mbah immediately visited the scene of the accident and expressed shock at its magnitude and commiserated with the families of the victims.

He said the government would ensure that the victims received full medical attention and also pick up the bills.

“This is an accident involving a tanker that preliminary investigations show may have had a break failure, fell down, had its product, premium motor spirit spilled from the tank and ignited.

“For us, this is a tragedy because there are many casualties.

“ Law enforcement agencies are still investigating. We want to get to the root of this for us to understand the true cause of the accident.

“In the meantime, we have moved those that are in need of treatment to the hospitals for full medical attention. My Commissioner for Health and also my Special Adviser on Health, the Chief Medical Director of the Enugu State University of Science and Technology Teaching Hospital (ESUTTH), Parklane, Enugu, the police, and Federal Road Safety Corps are all involved. They have my instruction to ensure that maximum medical attentions were given to the survivors,” the governor stated.

To forestall future occurrences, Mbah directed that tankers conveying inflammable substances in the state should have anti-spill lock that will prevent spillage during accidents.

“I have spoken with the head of the Federal Road Safety Corps to make sure they enforce the rules that ban tanker drivers without an anti-spill lock from the road. Tankers conveying premium spirit and inflammable products must have an anti-spill lock to ensure that when these trucks for down, they do not spill. It is very important.”

The Ugwu Onyeama section of the Enugu Onitsha express way has become notorious for fatal accidents over the years.

Rehabilitating work on the road has become unending causing motorists to meander from one lane to the other.

In response to this situation Governor Mbah said: “We are obviously not going to wait for the federal government to fix the other section of the road. We as a government are going to take steps to ensure that whatever needs to be done on that section of the federal road is done immediately so we would never want a reoccurrence of this.”

The Governor was received at the scene by the Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Mr Franklin Agbakoba who commended him for showing leadership by his prompt response.

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