Several shops and vehicles have be destroyed by fire after a tanker loaded with petrol veered off a bridge at Iyana Ipaja area of Lagos State and exploded.

The fire burnt the line of shops, covering over 50 metres by the road side.

According to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the incident was reported at about 12:58am.

A spokesman for the NEMA, Ibrahim Farinloye, said: “We received the alert around 12:58am and we swung into action. Unfortunately it was a late action. When we heard it, we thought it was a pipeline fire. We deployed fire service to the area.

“We were able to contain it…. The police got to the scene and were able to also ward-off so many people that had wanted to turn the place to a place for sightseeing”.

No casualty has been reported in the incident that occurred two days after a similar incident in Ontisha in Anambra State left 69 persons dead.