Gov. Fubara bemoans fatal accident in Rivers, promises succour to bereaved families, victims
…Accident claims 5 destroys over 70 vehicles
From Chris Eze, Port Harcourt
Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has expressed sadness over the fatal accident that took place Friday night involving a truck and a tanker conveying premium motor spirit otherwise called petrol in front of the entrance gate of the Indorama Petrochemical Company Plc along the Eleme axis of the East-West Road, Port Harcourt.
Our correspondent gathered that the collision between the truck and the tanker resulted to fire explosion which claimed five lives and destroyed over 70 vehicles trapped on the usual gridlock on the road due to the bad condition of the road.
Governor Fubara expressed his sadness at the gory sights that he saw when he visited the scene of the incident, accompanied by the State Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu, and the State Commissioner for Energy and Natural Resources, Mr Uchechukwu Nwafor, on Saturday morning.
The Governor explained that he got a call from the Managing Director of Indorama Petrochemical and Fertilizer Company Limited in Eleme Local Government Area, informing him of the incident.
At the news of the incident, Governor Fubara stated that he immediate routed a call to the security agencies and instructed that they visit the scene to take charge of the security of the area to avoid escalation of the situation.
Governor Fubara said: “We are here to see for ourselves and get a first-hand information of the incident of what happened yesterday night.
“About 7.30 – 8pm, we got information of the gravity of the incident. I was told that it was caused by a tanker vehicle that was conveying Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).
“In fact, I got the information through the MD of Indorama, and I immediately alerted the security agencies to make sure they take control of the security situation in the area.
“And from what we are seeing this morning, it was not a pleasant case. We recorded a huge number of vehicles being destroyed and lives lost.
Governor Fubara explained that he had already requested the relevant government agencies to provide him a detailed account of their findings to enable the State Government take appropriate decisions and actions to significantly remedy the situation and reduce the negative effect on the affected people.
“I have already asked the relevant agencies to give us a full brief so that we can come into the situation fully by seeing to how much we can support the families that are bereaved, and also cushion the effect of the loses, which I believe, is no fault of a good number of them.
“We all know the situation of this road. It is really unfortunate. Most of our people, when plying this road, should ply it with caution.
“I believe very strongly that this situation would have been avoided, if the motorists had behaved properly. But it is late already. The damage has happened. This is the situation we have found ourselves. We will see how we can control the aftermath,” he added.
As at the time of filing this report, Reynolds Construction Company, (RCC) which was awarded the contract by the Federal Government for the reconstruction of the road stretch from Trailer park in Eleme LGA to Eleme Junction is at work on the road.
