Three officials of the Oyo State Fire Service were injured when hoodlums’ attacked them in the Saki area of the state while responding to a fire incident.

The fire service Zonal Officer, Sarafa Akintola said on Thursday that the incident occurred on Tuesday.

Mr Akintola, who is among those injured, said they received distress calls at about 7.39 a.m. from Saki Divisional Police Officer and IPMAN Chairman in the area about a petrol tanker that crashed and caught fire at Idigba in Saki area on Tuesday.

He however said that their fire truck refused to start because the battery was weak and they had to seek an alternative battery before getting to the accident scene.

“On getting to the scene some hoodlums started throwing stones on us saying we came late, and they prevented us from performing our duty. We were in a pool of blood and three out of four of us were injured, but we managed to escape with the vehicle,” Mr Akintola said.

He said that they were later taken to a nearby hospital by a Saki divisional police officer for treatment.

The zonal officer called on the people to be patient with fire servicemen and support them during emergency operations.

(NAN)