A fire outbreak on Sunday evening destroyed a petrol station near Boromeo Roundabout in the commercial city of Onitsha, Anambra. A resident who witnessed the incident said that a petrol-laden tanker exploded and burst into flames while waiting to have the fuel discharged.

The eyewitness said that heavy traffic on Awka Road in the city delayed the arrival of firefighters who later battled to contain the raging inferno. DSP Toochukwu Ikenga, Anambra Police Command Spokesman confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria.

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He said that police personnel attached to the Inland Town Divisional Headquarters, Onitsha, had arrived at the scene and cordoned it off to prevent hoodlums from taking advantage of the incident to loot.

Ikenga said preliminary investigation revealed that the truck caught fire inside the fuel station while awaiting to have its content offloaded. He said the cause of the explosion, extent of damage and number of casualties has yet to be ascertained.