Published on January 26, 2013 by pmnews · No Comments
EROMOSELE EBHOMELE
The management of the Nigeria Distilleries Ltd (NDL) located at the Ijako area of Sango-Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria has shot down the company after an explosion on Friday resulted in the death of six of its staff with several others sustaining various degrees of injury.
While the six corpses have been deposited at a mortuary, the other injured workers were rushed to different hospitals within Ota and Ifo, a community close to Ijako.
When our correspondent visited the company along the Abeokuta Expressway on Saturday morning, the gate was under lock. Policemen were also seen at the entrance of the company probably to ward off any protest that may erupt as a result of the incident.
The Ogun state Commissioner of Police, Ikemefuna Okoye, in company of senior police officers in the state, was also at the company to obtain first hand information on how the incident occurred. He was leaving the company when our correspondent arrived at the scene.
Mr. Okoye also visited some of the victims at the hospitals were they were admitted for treatment.
A reliable source within the company, which majorly manufactures hot drinks, told P.M. NEWS that the tragedy struck at about 10.45 am on Friday when one of the boilers suddenly exploded splashing its hot contents on the affected workers.
“The workers were pouring some of the things used in manufacturing hot drinks into the boiler which was supposed to mix everything before transporting it to another machine, but it suddenly exploded.
“The workers that were badly affected were very close to the boiler. They were the ones operating it at the time it exploded.
“Four of the workers died on the spot. The other two died while they were being rushed to the hospital,” the source disclosed.
He confirmed that the some of the machines used in the distilling company were very old adding that this may have resulted in its explosion.
A casual staff of the company, who refused to mention his name, told P.M. NEWS that he was saved from death after he developed stomach ache few minutes before the incident.
“I was working with the others and after sometime, I had stomach problem. So I rushed to the toilet. I was in the toilet when I heard the heavy sound.
“I rushed out only to discover that some of my colleagues were dead. Four of them died on the spot and the other two died on their way to the hospital,” he said.
A resident of the area who gave his name as Mr. Jimoh Tijani, said when the explosion first occurred, many people thought it was a bomb. They scampered in confusion.
“You know the security situation of the country is enough to be extra vigilant,” he said adding that the sound of the explosion was deafening.
“Many of us thought it was an earth tremor. Buildings around this place shook to their foundation and even when we ran out, we initially did not know what happened until we started hearing shouts from the workers of NDL,” he explained.
He said ambulances owned by other manufacturing firms within the industrial area were used to convey the victims of the incident to the mortuary and the hospitals.
