A major tragedy was averted in Kogi State on Friday evening after security operatives swiftly responded to a fuel tanker accident along the Felele Expressway in Lokoja, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has confirmed.

According to Mr. Tenimu Etuku, the FRSC Sector Commander in Kogi, the incident occurred near the Crusher area when a fuel-laden truck heading to Abuja got detached from its head and rolled into a ditch.

He stated “Nobody was hurt or killed in the accident. The tanker driver and his assistant escaped unhurt.”

He said, when the accident occurred, the FRSC patrol team hurriedly rushed to the location,  and called the police, National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and Mobile Police unit for security back up.

“The reason is to ensure that the community members do not gain access to the tanker and attempt scooping the fuel to cause fire outbreak. We don’t want a repeat of what happened in Niger and Jigawa states , where several lives of people were lost to fire incidences on attemt to scoop fuel, ” he said.

According to the commander, some people in the location make an effort to scoop the fuel before the arrival of his personnel but that they were chased away.

Mr Etuku revealed that the area have been properly secured by security operatives and some leaders of the Crusher community.

He said, “The community leaders and the security agencies have agreed to ensure that nobody is allowed to go into the ditch with the aim of scooping fuel. ”

The commander appealed to members of Crusher community to avoid scooping the outpouring fuel to avoid any fire disaster in the community.