As a result of the frequent accidents involving petroleum tanker, sometimes leading to explosions which have overtime become rampant in the country, the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) have cautioned its members against rough driving on the roads and most importantly advised that they stop driving after six o’clock in the evening
The union says the bulk of the tanker accidents that occurs on the roads are due to reckless driving on the part of the drivers even as it advised that tanker drivers should desist from driving tankers in the night as this has been found to be one of the reasons for the accidents.
Confirming the development to Shipping Position Weekly, a scribe of the petroleum tanker drivers (PTD) branch of NUPENG, Mr. Babalola Akimbola disclosed that the warning has already been passed down to the branch last week from the top hierarchy of the union.
He says various sensitization programs have also been carried out in the past during meetings of NUPENG in order to lecture its members on the need to drive carefully and stay alive but it seems it is all falling on deaf ears.
Babalola especially condemned the tanker explosion of last week at the Liverpool bridge in Lagos that “it is an accident that could have been avoided if the driver had paid attention more to driving rules”, adding that “it is a pity that despite all the efforts of the state executives in calling members to order, some boys still choose to remain ignorant”
Recent among such explosions is the petroleum tanker which upturned and caught fire at the Liverpool Bridge in Apapa, the tanker was said to be carrying about 36,000 litres of diesel which exploded on contact with another private vehicle.
The two occupants of the private vehicle according to eye witness account were burnt beyond recognition while the driver of the tanker was also reported to have died in the ghastly fire incident. According to a nearby vulcanizer whose workshop is close to the Sea school entrance, the second occupant of the tanker was lucky as he alone narrowly escaped death albeit with major injuries.
Meanwhile the union has also taken the opportunity of the unfortunate accident to reiterate its call for the repairs of the major roads throughout the country in other to facilitate easy transportation of tankers as well as to forestall any future accident.
The PTD scribe told our correspondent that “one of our demands which we have written and made known to the federal government is for urgent repairs of the roads across the country, some of the roads these tankers ply every day are so deteriorated and in bad shape, this has been one of the major causes of accidents, human lives is what is at stake here” he said.
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