A male welder simply identified as Richard, lost his life, weekend, following an explosion which occurred while welding a tanker.
The incident happened at the toll gate in Ogbunike, Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra state.
News Echo correspondent reports that the man was on top of the empty tanker with Registration number: XA-740-CAL, trying to weld the upper compartment, when a heavy explosion occurred throwing him two hundred metres away.
The Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Anambra State Command, SP Haruna Mohammed in a statement, confirmed the incident.
The statement reads: “On the 28/11/2020 at about 2:30pm, there was a heavy explosion at a mechanic workshop, new road toll gate, Ogbunike.The incident took place when a welder named Richard ‘m’, surname yet unknown was on top of an empty Fuel Mack Truck with REG number XA-740-CAL trying to weld the upper compartment.
“All of a sudden the tanker exploded and threw away the welder two hundred metres away from the truck leaving him unconscious.
However, the scene was visited by operatives attached to Ogbunike Police Division and the victim was rushed to Iyienu Hospital for treatment where he was confirmed dead by a medical doctor.
Meanwhile, corpse was photographed and deposited at the hospital mortuary”.
In a similar development, it was a sad day in Umuowelle village, Agulu, Anaocha Local Government Area of Anambra State, when a diesel laden tanker crashed and burnt property worth millions of naira.
According to an eyewitness, the incident occurred around 6:20pm on the fateful day when the truck laden with 330,000 litres of diesel lost control while descending a slope in the village, and crashed in the process.
News Echo gathered that EEDC transformer, shops and other property running into millions of naira got burnt in the process.
The PPRO in a press release, said police operatives led by Disional Police Officer (DPO), Neni Division, Asadu Uche and other security agencies quickly mobilised to the scene and cordoned off the area to prevent looting and further catastrophe.
He added that investigation was ongoing to ascertain circumstances surrounding the incident.
