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 to Vanguard 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.
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