No fewer than three workers of a recycling plant have reportedly lost their lives in a fire incident on the company’s premises at Abule Ododo, along Papalanto-Ilaro Road, Ogun State.
A source said the company went up in flames on Sunday when the lid of a charged machine fell, leading to an explosion.
The source noted that three factory workers on duty were burnt to death.
She said, “There was a fire incident around 7pm yesterday (Sunday), and this happened due to the failure of the company to follow standard operating procedure.
“The company is trying to cover it up; they did not call the attention of the fire service to it since yesterday (Sunday). They want to hide the truth from the public.”
PUNCH Metro gathered that the flames had not been completely put out as of 4pm on Monday.
The Director of the Ogun State Fire Service, Fatai Adefala, said the incident was not reported at any of the fire stations in the state.
The state Commissioner for the Environment, Ola Oresanya, said the owners of the company could not be reached when officials of the ministry got to the scene of the incident.
Oresanya noted that the incident occurred due to the “lackadaisical attitude of the company owners.”
He confirmed that three people died while several workers sustained varying degrees of injury.
He said, “The incident happened due to the lackadaisical attitude of Bonny Pie Limited and when the incident happened, many of the workers were not allowed to go out. As of the time we got there, three people had died, while several others were injured.
“Many of those on duty were injured, but we have not been able to establish how many were on duty. It is only the business owners that can tell us the number of people that were injured, but they are on the run and not available to give any information concerning the incident.”
Our correspondent learnt that the corpses were deposited at the morgue of the General Hospital, Ilaro, while the injured were admitted to the hospital.
The Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, did not take his calls which rang out several times.