Grace Ojoko, a landlady of a storey building near a gas dispensing outlet, Nelmic Gas plant, at Effurun, in Uvwie Local Council of Delta State , escaped death by whiskers, when the gas plant exploded on Monday night.
Although no life was lost in the incident, dozens of people who gathered near the plant when the fire started, however, suffered burns.
The large storage tank exploded and landed on a storey building across the road and narrowly missed the landlady of the building who was sitting on the balcony.
The elderly landlady told The Guardian that she was lucky to be alive.
According to her, when the tank landed on the building it was already evacuated because most people in the building sensed danger when the fire started and left.
She said: “When I heard the loud explosion and the tank landed on my house I thought it was the end. Luckily I was able to jump down from the balcony assisted by my daughter.
Speaking of the incident, the security guard at the gas station said the fire started from a small leak on the gas tank.
“We noticed a leak on the tank around 9:00p.m. on Monday night. The leak was emitting gas. We called the manager to inform him and he said he can’t come that night and that they should leave the leak till the next day.
“Not long after we spotted the leak it suddenly ignited and started burning. Later the tank exploded and flew across the road,” he said.
He said there was no casualty from the explosion but that a lot of people who gathered to video the fire with their phones suffered burns when the tank suddenly exploded.
The fire, which burnt for over two hours was eventually put out by personnel of the Delta Fire Service at about midnight.
The deployment of a naval unit to the scene also averted looting of the plant during the incident.
