Hoodlums engaged in looting firefightersof a fire outbreak attacked operatives of the Oyo State Fire Service in Ibadan, the state capital.
It was gathered that the fire fighters were attacked on Sunday, while on duty at Atari-Agbon, in the Oki Area of Olodo, in Ibadan.
The Chairman of Oyo State Fire Service Reform /Agency, Hon. Moroof Adebayo Akinwande, disclosed this in a statement made available to newsmen on Monday.
An officer who was injured in the attack was rushed to the hospital for medical attention.
Akitwande said, “The firefighters led by ACFS Bamidele Samsudeen was promptly mobilized and deployed to the scene of incident. Upon arrival, it was a Mack trailer tanker with registration number KSH329XA loaded with 45,000 liters of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) that swerved and crossed an open road, hindering vehicular movement.
“Our officers got to work immediately by applying chemical foam compound with the aid ofer preventive equipment, so as not to allow an explosion to occur.
“The operation was professionally carried out successfully but it was during the, process of taking up our equipment that looters started attacking, with weapons such as broken bottles, stones, cutlasses and others. The firefighters sustained various degrees of injury, with one being left with serious injury on his head.
“It even took us almost an hour before we could rescue him from the scene of incident due to the activity of the suspected looters and hoodlums which was chaotic.
“The first hospital that we took him to, they complained that they would not be able to attend to him because the hooligans could invade their hospital and vandalize their facilities.
“He has been moved to another hospital and he is responding to treatment. The ugly incidentton reported at Iyana Ofa Police Station and some arrests have been carried out for prosecution. The investigation is still going on so as to make more arrests.”
