By Bankole Taiwo, Abeokuta
Barely 48 hours when a gas explosion rocked Conference Hotel, Oke Mosan, Abeokuta killing two people and injuring three others, there was another gas explosion incident on Thursday reportedly within a marque inside Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) Abeokuta killing at least two people.
The latest explosion was said to have occurred around 11am at the Marcque event centre located within the expansive Presidential Library complex.
Sources say that technicians were topping up gas into the Airconditioner (AC) when it exploded.
“Two people have already been confirmed dead,” a worker at OOPL said.
Confirming the incident in a statement made available to journalists, Managing Director of OOPL ventures, Vitalis Ortese said “there was indeed a gas explosion today, at the main event Marquee of the complex in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital.”
Vitalis said the explosion emanated when a pair of technical vendors were conducting routine servicing of the air conditioning units.
He explained that there have however been reports of similar incidents across the state in the last one week, which calls for investigation by the appropriate authorities.
Vitalis said, “The explosion, which occurred at about 11.04 am, unfortunately, led to the death of a technical vendor and serious injury of the second vendor.
“The emergency team of the Library immediately took action to prevent further damages and subsequently moved the injured to the hospital. Visitors into the complex were temporarily limited to contain any fallouts from the explosion. This has, however been restored after clearance by the fire services authorities.
“The management assures that all visitors to the library, guests at the Green Legacy Resort, the pupils at the CCGK nursery and primary school, clients at the cultural villages, and staff present on the premises at the time of the incident are safe.
“The management while promising to keep global safety best practices with an assurance that its visitors would always have a memorable stay also condole with the families of the victim that died and wished the injured a quick recovery.”
Recall that in less than two weeks, no fewer than ten persons have died in different gas explosions across the state.