Property worth millions of naira has been destroyed following a gas explosion in a set of apartments on Awkwuzu Street in the Diobu area of Mile One in Port Harcourt on Tuesday.
The intensity of the explosion displaced over 20 occupants from the building on No. 9 Awkwuzu Street.
The fire started at 8 am due to a faulty gas explosion in a room. It quickly spread to other apartments. Esther, one of the occupants affected, claimed that it started in a particular room. According to her, the woman had left her cooking gas on and gone to the hospital. She turned it off incorrectly, and the camp gas was faulty.
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Unfortunately, none of the occupants could salvage any property from the building due to the speed of the inferno. Firefighters did not show up for nearly two hours, causing further damage to the property.
In addition to personal property and buildings, about five shops belonging to traders in front of the building were consumed in the inferno.
Police officers from the Mile One Division were present to ensure that hoodlums didn’t take advantage of the situation to loot people’s property. The situation attracted sympathizers and onlookers, and some residents in the opposite building quickly carried valuable property for fear of the fire spreading in their direction.
The Commander of the Federal Fire Service in Rivers State, Abdul Alfa, expressed regrets that their vehicles were under maintenance and they could not respond to the distress call.
Alfa stated, “Not that we didn’t turn up. The problem is that our vehicles are off the road. They are under maintenance. “But I tried to call the fire department from some of the companies here in Port Harcourt to see how they can assist. If our vehicles are in order, what are we waiting for? It is our job, and we don’t waste time responding to such distress calls because we know it is an emergency situation.”
