3rd July, 2018
Tragedy struck in Delta on Tuesday morning as a motorcycle accident left a supposed pregnant woman who is a petrol black marketer burnt beyond recognition.
The incident occurred at Oghara Town, headquarters of Ethiope West Local Government Area of the state.
The victim, identified by residents as Madam Gbogbo, was also said to be a dealer in second-hand clothes.
Witnesses disclosed in Abuja that the accident also involved a jeep, at Navy Junction on Ibori Road, where former Governor James Ibori’s residence is located.
“The woman was returning from a petrol depot with a jerry can of fuel she bought when the jeep knocked down her motorcycle.
“She was personally riding the motorcycle with the jerry can placed on the tank in front of her.
“The fuel exploded in the process, and there was nothing anyone could do to save her.
“Since tank farm started in Oghara, every woman has become a petrol black marketer.
“They sell fuel along the road, and the deceased is one of the numerous women engaged in this business,” one of them said.
Graphic images and videos sent to NAN show the woman lying motionless in flames beside her burning motorcycle with sympathisers watching and wailing from a distance.
In one of the images, firefighters are seen extinguishing the flame around the woman’s burnt remains.
Mr Andrew Aniamaka, the Public Relations Officer, Delta State Police Command, confirmed the incident to NAN.
Aniamaka said the driver of the vehicle had been taken into custody, while investigation was ongoing into the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Residents disclosed that Tuesday’s accident was the fourth fatal case recorded in Oghara within the last one week.
In May, a 35-year old female petrol black marketer suffered a similar fate in the town after the product she reportedly stored in her house caught fire that razed down the entire residential building.