There were reports on social media yesterday of an explosion that occurred at Umuwaya Junction in Umuahia, Abia state, Nigeria on Tuesday the 17th of November, but, unfortunately, few media outlets covered the event. Residents of Umuahia indicated that the media probably felt no need to cover the story since explosions of this kind are nearly trivial and no lives were lost.

According to Steve Oko on Nairaland, this is what happened.

“The accident occurred around 7pm on Tuesday night when an engine oil shop located near a filling station became engulfed in flames. The owner of the shop was attending to customers when a fire suddenly erupted from inside the shop. He said the fire started from the exhaust pipe of a tricycle known as “Keke” operator who had come in to buy engine oil. It was also reported that about 12 drums of oil stored in the shop were set ablaze in the accident. Residents around the area mistook the inferno to be an explosion as it had barely been a year since the filling station beside the shop caught fire while a petrol truck was discharging its product.”

There were no casualties as it took the combined effort of the fire fighters and residents of the area to salvage the situation. Other sources have mentioned that the fire was most likely caused by drums of petrol stored at the location due to the ongoing fuel scarcity.

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