The Cross
River Police Command has confirmed that nine people died in a fire outbreak
that occurred at Linc Oil and Gas tank farm at around on Sunday monring.
Mr Hafiz
Inuwa, the State Commissioner of police, who spoke with the News Agency of
Nigeria (NAN) at the scene of the event, confirmed the figure.
Inuwa added
that several other persons, who sustained injuries were currently being treated
in one of the hospitals in Calabar.
According to
him, the manager of the depot is yet to brief the police on what led to the
explosion.
“Up until
now, nobody has come out to tell us that this is what caused the fire outbreak.
“We have
gone round, we have done what we can do but investigation will later reveal
what actually led to the explosion.
“For now,
nine people are confirmed dead and many others who sustained different burns
are currently receiving treatment in one of the hospitals around town’’, he
said.
NAN reports
that officials from the Cross State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), were on
ground to assess the extent of damages caused by the explosion.
A NAN
correspondent who went round the depot, reports that the fire outbreak also affected
the high tension cable which connected depot’s electricity transformer, while
two vehicles and other important equipment were also burnt to ashes.
The depot
Manager refused to speak with newsmen, saying that he was not authorised to
speak at the moment.
But, a staff
of the depot, who spoke with NAN under the condition of anonymity, said that
the fire outbreak occurred when staff of the depot where discharging out the
old products in the tanks to fill in the new consignment.
“As we speak
right now, the vessel that brought in our new product is just by the port here.
Some of our staff were discharging the old product from the tank with a view to
bring in the new one when the fire outbreak occurred,” he said.
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