Some car dealers in Lafia, Nasarawa State have lamented their losses, estimated at N3.5m, in the Monday gas explosion in a part of the city.
Two brothers told our correspondent on Tuesday in Lafia that they lost five cars and a motorcycle to the inferno in which many were killed and scores injured.
Narrating their plight to the Northern City News, John and Sunday Anthony, blamed negligence by the manager of a filling station for the explosion, which was reportedly caused by leaking gas.
John said, “When the gas was about to explode, the engineer quickly ran out and informed everybody within the area, shouting that the road should be blocked, but motorcyclists popularly known as Okada riders ignored him and before they could realise what was happening, the gas exploded and a lot of people were killed or injured.”
The car dealers appealed to the state government and public-spirited bodies to come to their aid as “all the capital we invested in the business has been destroyed by the explosion.”
Sunday said, “We are appealing to the Nasarawa State gGovernment and other Nigerians to come to our aid as our business has been liquidated. We don’t know where to start. Our dreams and hopes have been destroyed by the gas explosion.”
The businessmen disclosed that a customer had deposited N600,000 for a car on Saturday before the unfortunate incident.
Also speaking to our correspondent, an eyewitness, Mrs Alice Sambo, said hoodlums took advantage of the chaos that ensued after the explosion and looted some shops.
“Some of my neighbours and I escaped narrowly from our various shops. Government should take proactive measures to curtail future occurrence,” she advised.