Engr. Johnbosco Onunkwo Condoles With Onitsha Fire Victims

CHUKA UBAH

There was a fire explosion yesterday afternoon in Onitsha, the commercial city of Anambra State. Sadly enough, there were no fire service vehicles to quench the roaring flames several hours after it began to destroy lives and property. 

The inferno was caused by a trailer loaded with petroleum product, which had lost control at Upper Iweka, along Enugu-Onitsha Expressway, Onitsha and had crashed into a drainage in-between the expressway. Consequently, fire spilled over through the gutter and many houses, shops and businesses were badly affected. A woman and her child, who were burnt beyond recognition, have been confirmed dead by a medical doctor at Toronto Hospital.

Reacting to the news of the unfortunate incident, Engr. Johnbosco Onunkwo expressed sympathy with victims of the inferno and prayed that God will give their families the fortitude to bear the painful loss at this difficult moment. Like a pillar of support, he pledged to stand by them to ameliorate their sufferings.

While acknowledging that the accident may be beyond our power, he remarked also that the inferno was very avoidable if the State Government had equipped Onitsha and other cities in the state with basic social amenities/public infrastructure like fire service trucks. He stressed that it was very sad that no fire service trucks were at the sites of the havoc to quench the fire before it could spread, adding that best practices of Health, Safety and Environmental management culture would have prevented such unfortunate incident to which innocent citizens of Anambra State were daily exposed.

He called upon the government, the good people of Anambra State and our country Nigeria to come to the aid of the traumatized victims and residents of Onitsha at this critical period.

Engr. Johnbosco Onunkwo is a Health and Safety Expert with over 15 years of experience in the Oil and Gas sector. The Umuchu, Aguata, Anambra born Humanitarian is also a major promoter of public safety and social reengineering.