25 Roasted to death as they queue for fuel in Asaba

As a fallout to the national fuel scarcity that is bedeviling the country, about 25 Nigerians were roasted to death as they queued for fuel in Asaba, the Delta State capital.

Reports about the possible cause of the fatal accident suggests that the fuel queues on the NNPC MEGA station opposite the airport has led to a traffic gridlock.
Information gathered that in order to avoid the traffic, motorist coming from Onitsha had to divert into the opposite lane.Since there were no road signs nor road safety officials, the oncoming Dangote trailer, unaware of the ensuing commotion ahead, rammed into an 18 seater Hiace bus loaded with commuters from the East.

The impact also affected a SEEFOR delta state govt hilux van and an Asaba City taxi.The degree of the impact caused a sudden explosion that sent flames in all direction.In the ensuing inferno, all four vehicles and their occupants were believed to have been consumed by the raging fire.A source however said that the trailer motor boy and an occupant of the taxi cab might have miraculously escaped.

At the time of filing this report, Road Safety marshals were busy evacuating van loads of bodies burnt beyond recognition to the Asaba Federal Medical Centre mortuary.

Fuel scarcity has been biting harder at the moment across the country, with few filling stations selling above the official pump price of N87 per litre.

Several filling stations are now under lock and key across the country, while few of the petrol stations that have product to sell are doing so above the official pump price.

It is observed that major marketers are not selling the product in Warri, Delta State while the few independent marketers are selling a pump price of the product between N110 and N120 per litre.

Long queues were noticed in the few filling stations seen selling the products just as motorists and residents complained about the situation.

Meanwhile, Nigerians across the country have been suffering untold hardship as fuel crisis persisted since the previous week, triggering increase in the price of food commodities, transport fare and general cost of living.