Ted Odogwu, Kano
Another fire outbreak hit Kano on Wednesday and killed three persons and razed a filling station and a fuel tanker.
The filling station, owned by A. A. Rano, a popular petroleum products marketer on Bompai Road, adjacent to the Grand Central Hotel, was completely razed.
Eyewitnesses said the fire disaster, which happened at about 2pm, started when a fuel tanker was discharging fuel into the filling station’s underground tank.
One of the eyewitnesses said, “In the process of discharging petrol into the underground tank, there was a spark and the tanker caught fire. The inferno engulfed the entire petrol station and trapped the driver while others took to their heels. The man and two others were burnt to death.”
When our correspondent visited the scene, the body of the driver and the tanker were still burning.
Another eyewitness told our correspondent that one of the petrol attendants, identified as Mallam Ali, who was gauging the fuel level and the driver’s assistant were the other two that died in the incident.
The timely intervention of security agents prevented the Manager of the filling station from jumping into the fire to rescue Ali.