Gas explosion at Anthony Village

A building and two vehicles
were razed by fire at
Anthony Village in the early
hours of Tuesday due to gas
explosions.

Residents, who witnessed the
incident, said the explosion
was caused when a fire which
was allegedly caused by
electric power surge, started
from a tailoring shop at
about 11.30pm Monday. The
fire consumed an electronics
workshop, a bar, and spread
to a gas shop containing
about 60 filled cooking gas
cylinders, resulting in
multiple explosions. "The fire
started around 11.30pm," said
Joseph Ikeji, who has his
daughter, his wife and three
siblings living with him. "I
came back late, ate, prepared
everything and went to bed
with daughter around 11
o'clock or so. After some time
my wife ran to the room and
said there was fire outside.
We went out, tried to contact
fire service and tried to see
what we can do. Everybody's
fear was that the fire should
not enter the gas shop. We
tried to go out of the estate
but the estate gates were
locked. So by the time we
came back, the gas had
started exploding and our
house was on fire. The fire
was on for about 30 minutes
before it got to the gas shop.
Due to the explosion there
was nothing we or anybody
could do. In fact, I had to
leave there; I couldn't stand
watching the house burn.
Everything burnt except the
cars that we removed before
our house went up in flames."

Blame game

According to Mr Ikeji, it was
one of the gas cylinders that
were exploding into the air
that crashed into the roof of
the house which is beside the
gas shop. Other shops
affected by the fire include a
mechanic workshop and a
cement shop. Another
resident, Victor Peters, said
the major problem is that the
estate gates are locked by
8pm making it difficult to
handle emergencies like the
fire. "The fire service people
came but for a long time they
could not enter because the
gates were locked," he said.
Basira Giwa, a resident,
blamed the incident on the
location of the gas shop and
the other shops. "The fact is
that this place is an illegal
settlement," she said. "We
have been writing the
Ministry of Environment to
come and evacuate them from
here, but they have not done
anything about it. And we
know that combustible
materials are not to be sold
in residential areas.
Mechanic workshop is not
supposed to be in a
residential area."

Ogunsanwo Adebayo, the
Councillor representing the
area, said he will set up
panel to investigate the
cause of the incident and
settle the issue between the
shop owners and the
residents association.

Counting losses

Moruf Yekini, who owns the
electronics workshop, barely
controlled tears as he
watched the wreckage of
what used to be his shop. He
said the electronics in his
shop at the time of the
incident was worth over half
a million naira. "There were
a lot of things inside the
shop," he said. "Many radios,
TVs and many other things I
cannot mention now. Just on
Saturday somebody brought
this expensive home theatre,
brand new Sony Bravia. It had
a little problem because of
power surge. The carton and
everything was here. That
one is my major concern now.
Even my father's vulcanizer
machine was in my shop.
Somebody wanted to buy it
for N18,000 but I said no.
Now it is gone. Now the
landlord association want to
chase us away from here but
our landlord does not want
us to leave. But we don't
know what will happen."

Kazeem Anifowoshe, who
owns the gas shop, was seen
on the adjoining street
pacing around in despair and
clutching in his right hand
paper in which he had
written the things he lost to
the fire. "I lose up to
N1,166,500, that is the ones I
can remember now," he said.
"There were about 60 old
cylinders, and 15 new ones.
About 60 of them were
containing gas. I don't know
where I going to start again. I
need help. I have two babies,
twins; they are not even up to
two months old. I don't know
what to do now."



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