A gas explosion that occurred in a gas shop located within a residential area housing a school and other businesses and the fire destroyed millions of naira worth of goods in the process could have also claimed the lives of children if not for Providence, writes MUHAMMAD SABIU.
IT was most unexpected. Everything had been under control for so long nobody suspected that anything could go wrong that fateful day. There was no ominous sign. Not even from the source of the gas explosion, a shop.
It had been a long day; even a primary school located within the building had closed for the day. The timing saved lives, especially of little children who live within the community which was probably why their parents chose to have them there.
At about 5.30 p.m there was a gas explosion which rocked the entire Kaduna central area community, leaving one person injured. Luckily nobody died. By the time the dust settled, no fewer than 10 shops, including the ‘private school’ were destroyed. Also destroyed were goods like gas cookers, cylinders, and kitchen utensils, among others valued at N80m.
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Though the cause of the gas explosion was not very clear, findings revealed that there were two versions to the occurrence. One source attributed the cause to an electrical fault in one of the shops, pointing out that ‘the sparks caused a gas cylinder in the shop to explode. Another source, who gave his name as Ali Nayara, contended that the explosion started in a gas shop when a customer came to refill his 3kg gas cylinder.
“In an effort to ensure that the cylinder was not leaking, the owner of the shop took a small portion of detergent to wash the valve. Unexpectedly, there was a heavy sound and before you know what was happening an explosion rocked building,” he explained.
A sympathiser who wouldn’t like his name in print described the fire incident as most unfortunate saying “we were helpless. We tried to control it, but you know it is not easy to control fire from a gas explosion.”
According to another sympathiser, who was at the scene to help contain the fire, “we put a call to the fire service, but they were complaining of lack of fuel… “We also tried to get the fire service at the Kaduna State University, but by the time they came it was too late as there was nothing else they could do. So the angry mob sent them away.”
Also, speaking on the explosion, another sympathiser, who gave his name as Alhaji Alfa and who has been living in the area since 1968, agreed that it was really a sad experience, which scared members of the community.
“We thought the explosion would spread to other houses in the neighbourhood. My heart goes to the victims. They lost many valuables.
“On the other hand, we are also happy that God had saved us from what could have been a major disaster of the year. Imagine the other side of the building housing a school… supposing the kids were around, nobody could have been able to predict the number of casualties,” the octogenarian stated.
Sunday Tribune sought the views of some of the parents of the pupils of the school. Curiously they all claimed ignorance over the school’s location or the fact that it shares building with gas store and other traders. Speaking on the location of the school near a gas station, a parent, who gave his name as Abduaziz Yakubu, said private schools should be scrutinised before they are granted a licence.
“For God’s sake this particular school should not have been given a licence to operate because it has not met the required standards expected for the establishment of a private school. What is more, government should not have allowed such a school to operate in a very dangerous environment like that,” he argued.
Speaking in the same vein, a parent of one of the pupils, who pleaded for anonymity, remarked that the explosion was an eye-opener.
“Operating a nursery and primary school in the building was not in the interest of the community. I was just imagining how the little kids could have survived. There is only one exit and a small passage in the school,” he noted.
Another parent who also begged not to be named advised the landlord never again to allow the school to operate in the burnt building advising that the school proprietor should find an alternative place that is bigger and more spacious in future.
When approached for comments, the school proprietor was not willing to talk, even when he was asked how he felt over the disaster, he could only muster a short reply: “You could see for yourself what has happened. I don’t want to talk to the press.”
But, a teacher who volunteered to speak on the condition of anonymity blamed the gas explosion on the shop owners. She was of the view that if the shop owners had fire extinguishers, the situation would not have gone out of control.
“Could you believe that none of the shop owners had fire extinguishers in their shops? How could you use water to quench fire from a gas explosion? Isn’t that nonsense? she said.
Explaining further, the teacher disclosed that the seven-room school was completely burnt down. “Everything was consumed by the fire,” she said, adding that “we are happy that our pupils were not in school. We have at least 250 children in the school. The explosion was really unfortunate as people were even afraid to offer help because of the intensity of the fire. We have left everything in the hands of Almighty Allah,” she said resignedly.
Speaking in the same vein, Babayo Ali who owns a shop where snooker is played in the area noted that the government should not have allowed people selling or refilling gas to stay within residential houses. He appealed to the state government to think about relocating them to a new area to avert a major catastrophe in future.
Ibrahim Usman, a neighbour, is of the opinion that landlords should henceforth endeavour to find out the jobs of their tenants before letting out their shops to them and also stop allowing “any person who wants to sell or refill gas cylinders to operate in residential areas.”
Narrating how he lost some valuables to the incident, Mohammed Abdulsalam, a vulcaniser plying his trade on the same premises, said while he was trying to evacuate his tools from his shop during the fire outbreak, thieves were busy stealing tyres belonging to his customers. Now he has to look for money to replace the stolen tyres.
“God is even merciful to us as the explosion didn’t affect other houses,” he added.
Also, reeling from the calamity that befell occupants of the ill-fated building, kitchen utensils trader, Mr Nwabude Emeka, who occupied four shops told Sunday Tribune that all his goods were consumed by the fire.
Emeka, who claimed to have started the kitchen utensils business in 2012 after an earlier business collapsed, maintained that he was still in shock over the incident. Recalling events leading to the tragedy, Emeka disclosed that his goods arrived on the very day of the fire incident.
“In fact, the truck conveying the goods developed a fault in Ibadan, Oyo State. For a whole week, the owner of the truck was trying to fix it and when he eventually fixed it, on the day the goods were offloaded into the shop, this thing (explosion) happened,” he lamented.
Emeka disclosed further that he lost N15m worth of goods, adding that put together, the losses are in the region of N80m worth of goods. His major challenge now, according to him is how to restart his business with a family to take care of.
“I want to appeal to our dynamic and compassionate governor, Mallam Nasir El-rufai, to come to our aid by assisting us with something that would enable us to start again,” he declared.