Lagos explosion updates: Eight die, 25 houses, school, 16 shops razed

Eight persons have been confirmed dead in an early morning gas explosion that occurred in Baruwa community of the Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State on Thursday.

The explosion emanating from the Best Roof Cooking Gas, Unity Bus Stop, Fatade area of Baruwa around 5.45am also claimed 25 houses, a primary school and 16 lock-up shops, according to the Director-General, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu.

He said the agency’s emergency response unit had been moved into the area to salvage the situation.

He said, “The explosion occurred and the agency activated a response plan. Initial disaster assessment is as follows: casualties still being assessed but eight fatalities have been identified so far; 25 houses that are mostly bungalows, 16 lock-up shops, and one primary school have been affected.”

This came barely three weeks after a gas explosion that killed two people was recorded in the Iju-Ishaga area of the state.

A pipeline explosion reported in January 19 this year at Abule-Egba, Lagos, was reportedly caused by the activities of vandals, who ruptured the pipeline belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in the area in a bid to steal fuel.

On March 15 this year, an explosion, which killed 23 people at Abule-Ado in the Amuwo-odofin Local Government Area of Lagos and destroyed a girls boarding school, had occurred as a result of a truck that hit gas cylinders near one of the NNPC pipelines.