Vanguard News:
Relatives of victims of Nnewi gas explosion, yesterday, combed bushes near the gas plant for corpses of missing family members, even as the Anambra Fire Service has eventually succeeded in putting out the fire.
Some of them told
Vanguard that they decided to search the bush because they got
information that many people ran into it during the explosion.
A middle aged
woman, Amaka said she is still in shock after the incident. According to
her, "I cannot just believe that my maid who was sent to refill gas at
the factory is gone for ever.
"I am in deep
trouble, what will I tell the family of the girl, I just brought her
from the village last three months with the promise that I would help
sponsor her education, I have gone to the Nnamdi Azikiwe University
Teaching Hospital(NAUTH) Nnewi mortuary where the corpses are deposited
but my maid is not there. Will I just go and tell the parents that their
daughter is dead without the corpse," she queried.
Also, a staff of
Chikason Group, who spoke on condition of anonymity said workers of the
organisation recently concluded a two-week fasting and prayer session
after a prophet allegedly warned the Chairman of the group of the
impending doom.
He however stated
that the prophet did not specify which of the factories in the group
would be affected, a situation that made many members of staff to
participate in the prayer sessions.
"I don't know why
all these bad things are happening. Our Chairman is a very good man who
is passionate about the welfare of the downtrodden even at great
personal cost. Last time two of his fully-loaded trucks just
disappeared. The vehicles were carrying items running into millions of
naira. That one is yet to be resolved and now this fire disaster," he
said
The Chikason staff however, did not mention the name of the prophet .
Meanwhile, the
traditional ruler of Nnewi, Igwe Kenneth Orizu in company of his council
of titled Chiefs visited the scene of the fire incident yesterday.
Spokesman for the royal father and former Chairman of Peoples Democratic
Party PDP Anambra state, Chief Dan Ulasi told newsmen that Nnewi has
never experienced such a level of devastation in its entire history.
He pointed out that the Igwe and his cabinet had also visited the injured in different hospitals in Nnewi.
The monarch
expressed shock that an industrial town like Nnewi does not have a
functional Fire Service Station, urging the government to address the
anomaly.
A member of House
of Representatives for Nnewi North, Nnewi South and Ekwusigo Federal
Constituency Hon Chris Azubogu who also visited the scene of the
explosion noted that the accident has cast a big shadow on Christmas
celebrations in the town.
Hon.Azubogu prayed
for the repose of the souls of the victims, as well as, prayed for the
quick recovery of those in the hospitals.
The lawmaker said
that the accident has made it incumbent on the government to enforce
safety standards, stressing the need for regulatory bodies like
Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and similar agencies to ensure
that environmental impact assessments are properly carried out before
giving licenses to people to set up filling stations.