A tank farm belonging to Stallonaire Nigeria Limited, located in Ijegun Egba area of Satellite Town, Lagos, went up in flames yesterday, destroying a 6,000,000-litre capacity tank, which had some petrol in it.

One person was said to have received minor burns while others, among who were staff of the company, sustained minor injuries in the ensuing stampede. The explosion that ignited the fire threw residents into panic as many fled their abodes with some of their valuables. Others hurriedly drove their vehicles away from the vicinity.

When Vanguard visited the scene, schools in the neighbourhood were shut, while parents, who had earlier gone to drop their wards in school, rushed back to pick them.

Eyewitness account

Although the exact cause of the inferno could not be immediately ascertained, a staff of Stallonaire, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the incident occurred during a manual transfer of petroleum products.

According to the staff, “operators of the tank farms were manually transferring petrol from the tank that caught fire to the gantry, when the fire started. “The luck we had was that the tank in question was near empty, while the surrounding tanks were also empty. Had there been products, the entire area would have been engulfed by the inferno.”

Officials of National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, and Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, who were on ground to contain the fire, said the number of injured was yet to be determined.

General Manager, LASEMA, Mr. Adesina Tiamiyu, said an investigation will be conducted, even as he emphasised the need for owners and managers of oil and gas companies to always ensure that proper emergency response plan was put in place.

 

Source: Vanguardngr.com

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