What could have led to a major fire disaster was yesterday averted at the Ibru-Ibafon tank farm complex situated along the Apapa/Oshodi expressway, when a fully-loaded petroleum tanker fell and spilled its contents on the highway, crippling vehicular traffic for several hours on the ever-busy expressway.
As a result of the fallen tanker at Coconut bus stop on Wednesday night, movement of traffic around the ports as well as movement of petroleum tankers in and out of the tank farms in Lagos was grounded for hours leading to huge loss of revenue.
What could have led to a major fire disaster was yesterday averted at the Ibru-Ibafon tank farm complex situated along the Apapa/Oshodi expressway, when a fully-loaded petroleum tanker fell and spilled its contents on the highway, crippling vehicular traffic for several hours on the ever-busy expressway.
As a result of the fallen tanker at Coconut bus stop on Wednesday night, movement of traffic around the ports as well as movement of petroleum tankers in and out of the tank farms in Lagos was grounded for hours leading to huge loss of revenue.
The tanker which belongs to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) fell while trying to negotiate a bend directly in front of the Integrated Oil and Gas Limited tank farm at Coconut bus stop due to a bad portion of the road.
Eye witnesses told Shipping Position Daily that the truck which was loaded with PMS had just finished loading at Capital Oil depot and was heading towards Mile 2 when it fell.
But for the timely intervention of men of the Lagos State Fire Services department and the immediate deployment of fire-fighting equipment from Integrated Oil and Gas tank farm, the tanker would have exploded and many lives would have been lost.
The tanker fell Wednesday night and as at press time yesterday, the expressway was still cordoned-off thereby keeping motorists in the traffic for hours.
Sources at the Tin Can Island Port who spoke with our correspondent via telephone yesterday explained that the traffic affected the movement of containers in and out of the terminals due to the traffic gridlock on the expressway.
Our correspondent who visited some tank farms around the Ibru and Ibafon complexes also noticed that all loading activities at the facilities were suspended.
It was also noted that the LASTMA officials, fire fighters and officials of Security and Civil Defense Corp who had reported to the scene on Wednesday night had their hands full yesterday as they tried to stop people from coming close to the scene.
A member of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers Union (NUPENG) at Integrated Oil and Gas depot, Comrade Balogun Ogundele, told Shipping Position Daily that, “if it were not for the prompt response of our fire truck, the tnaker would have exploded”.
“As you can see, no loading of product has taken place since morning right from Capital Oil to Folawiyo in Apapa, because there is no road for them to pass through. The fire fighters had to be spraying chemical on the tank to cool it off because of the fierce sun, if not the truck could explode” he said.
Also speaking, Vice chairman of the NUPENG at Ascon Oil unit, Comrade Owolabi Jimoh said that the tank was an imported tank. According to him, “if it were made in Nigeria, it would have exploded because, it wouldn’t have been able to withstand the heat from the sun”.
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