Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) says the gas explosion that occured at No. 32 Coker Compound, Orile Iganmu left life threatening injuries on the owner of the shop and his staff.
Dr Olufemi Oke-Osanyitolu, Permanent Secretary, LASEMA, made this known in a statement on Monday in Lagos.
Oke- Osanyitolu said that a gas explosion was reported via the Lagos State 767 / 112 Toll Free Emergency numbers at 1615hrs.
According to him, LASEMA, activated the State’s Emergency Response Plans, with the prompt arrival of LRT from Onipanu Base at the incident scene by 16: 46hrs.
“Upon arrival at the scene of incident, cooking gas cylinders of various sizes stored in a mini – warehouse was found to have exploded.
“Further investigation revealed that one of the cylinders in the storage facility exploded in the process of transfer of gaseous content from one cylinder to another.
“The building which comprise of six residential flats on two floors, also served as illegal storage facility for about 30 gas cylinders of various sizes used in the storage and sale of cooking gas in a residential area.
“No lives were lost, however, owner of the gas facility and his Staff (Both Adult males), suffered serious life threatening injuries and had been taken to an undisclosed hospital before arrival of the Agency’s Officials,” Oke-Osanyitolu said.
The PS said that the explosion didnot seem to affect the structural stability of the building as there were no visible wall cracks.
He said that efforts were ongoing to evacuate all the gas cylinders from the residential building within the next 24 hours, to eliminate the occurrence of secondary explosion.
He added that the operation had been concluded.
Emergency attendance at the scene of the incident included: LASEMA Response Team, LASG Fire and Rescue Service, LASAMBUS and Nigeria Police Force.
