The incident, which occurred at a truck park located around Warehouse area of the Apapa/Oshodi Expressway, Lagos, drew a crowd to the area.
Some tanker drivers, who spoke to PUNCH METRO, said the tanker with registration number XH 494 JJJ, was offloaded on Friday and had only the usual left-over in it, which the deceased supposedly was trying to scoop before he died.
One of the tanker drivers’ assistant was said to have discovered a bloated body in one of the tankers and raised the alarm, which attracted other workers in the park
Officials of the Lagos State Fire Service were later contacted to bring the corpse out. But it was difficult to take away the bloated body, thereby raising suspicion that Taye might have died about three days ago before his corpse was discovered on Monday.
When all efforts to remove the corpse by firefighters failed, it was resolved that the tanker should be cut. As at the time of filing this report, the firefighters were still battling to remove the corpse.
A firefighter, who went into the tanker to assess the state of the body, sustained deep cuts on his face. It was gathered that the firefighter was injured by the tanker’s sharp rim.
The firefighter later told his colleagues that it was impossible to bring the corpse out through the openings on the tank because the body had become bloated.
The firefighters later contracted two men to get into the tank and pack the corpse in a bag. However, tragedy was averted when the men slumped in the tank and had to be pulled out. They were later revived by the firefighters.
A tanker driver, who identified himself simply as Hafiz, identified the tanker driver simply as Alhaji but said nobody knew his whereabouts.
A tanker driver assistant, Bayo Egbe, who said he was an acquaintance of Taye, told our correspondent that the deceased had been barred from the area since about two months ago due to his shady character.
“It was a surprise when I saw him on Friday in the park. He said he came to visit someone. We were not really friends, just acquaintances. He killed himself for a mere N2,000 or whatever amount he would have realised from the left-over petrol he wanted to steal,” he said.
The container the deceased supposedly wanted to use get the petrol out was also found inside the tanker.
Officials of Petroleum Tanker Drivers at the scene declined to comment on the incident.
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