A pregnant woman and four others, including children, were on Thursday electrocuted in Lagos after a PHCN high-tension cable fell on a vehicle containing fuel and instantly caused an explosion with fire.
The incident happened very early in the morning at Oworonshoki, Lagos.
Sources said the high-tension cable had cut and fall on the car, a Toyota Camry loaded with jerry cans of fuel.
An eyewitness said the victims had rushed out of their homes when they heard the explosion and ran into the live cable unknowingly.
“They all ran out to save their lives only to step on the cable in front of their house and they were electrocuted. The corpses were taken to Yaba General Hospital by policemen from Oworonshoki and some residents of the area”, the witness said.
“The husband of the pregnant woman, who also lost a son, attempted to commit suicide by drinking a poisonous substance but was however, prevented by neighbours”.
The youths in the area prevented PHCN workers from coming to the scene because they blamed the electricity company for the deaths, saying most of their wires and poles are obsolete
Director of the Lagos State Fire Service, Mr Rasak Fadipe confirmed the incident, saying that the victims included three teenagers, a pregnant woman and another woman.
Fadipe said that the high-tension cable fell on the car parked on the street with jerry cans of petroleum products, noting that he got the information at about 2.50 a.m. He added that his men were able to contain the fire from spreading to nearby buildings.
The PHCN Ikeja Distribution Zone’s Public Relations Officer, Mr Pekun Adeyanju, refused to answer calls.
Fadipe also confirmed that another disaster was averted at the Ogba area of the state as well as the Coconut Bus Stop area of Apapa, as two tankers conveying 33,000 litres of petrol fell and spilled fuel on the highways.
He however said his men were able to curtail any disaster.
