The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) depot situated at Apata area of Ibadan, Oyo State Capital was on Wednesday gutted by fire, with about seven persons sustaining injuries, while three petrol tankers were also burnt.
The fire which lasted for about two hours completely damaged a section of the loading point of the depot said to have been reopened two years ago for operation after years of neglect.
The cause of the fire could not be ascertain as at the time of filing this report, but source attributed it to an electrical surge which sparked the fire allegedly caused by one of the drivers said to have removed his battery and using another truck’s battery to kick start his truck.
As at the time of this report,no official statement has been issued by the management, however, extinguished by the Oyo Fire Services and officials of the company, while officials of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC),State Security Service (SSS) and policemen have been deployed to the scene to assist.
The source who spoke under condition of anonymity said one of the victims of the incident identified as Moji, ”was caught in the raging fire, and sustained severe burns”, and as at the time of this report activities at the depot have been suspended.
‘One of the firm’s drivers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, however, said the fire was caused by one of the tanker drivers at the loading point. I was there when one of the tanker drivers was removing his battery and using another truck’s battery to kick start his truck’, the source said.
“It was when he put the battery and was hitting the head of the battery, trying to fix it, that fire sparked from the battery and the next thing we saw was fire, trapping everyone available,” he said.
Meanwhile, the reopening of the depot after long period of closure was said to be part of the turn-around maintenance of the Government to ease fuel loading and distribution in the region.
