There was pandemonium Monday evening in Calabar following the explosion of a mini pick van on Muritala Mohammed Highway Bebobsco axis killing the driver while the other occupant narrowly escaped death.
It was gathered that the mini pick up van was conveying drums of adulterated diesel to an unknown destination, unfortunately, when they got to Bebobsco bus stop they had to slow down because of the speed bumps, but the driver didn’t see them on time and hard to stop with speed, this led to a spark and an explosion.
Eyewitness account disclosed that the Mini Pick up was coming from EPZ direction before the tragic incident occurred.
It was learnt that the explosion caused heavy gridlock on highway as commuters tried to help the burning driver put off the fire but their efforts were futile as both the driver and his vehicles as well as the product he was carrying were all consumed by the raging fire.
It took about 20 minutes before the Federal Fire Service Operations truck got to the scene of the incident and then put off the fire.
Head of Operations, Federal Fire Service, Cross River, Mr Clement Bassey who confirmed the incident on said they moved immediately they got the call about the incident unfortunately one of the occupant was already dead before they got to the scene.
“The information I got from the office is that the man has already died before our men got there.So far what we learnt was that the vehicle exploded on motion and the driver was burnt to aches,” he said.