By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said that the reported explosion, which rocked Abule Ado Area of Lagos State in the early hours of Sunday, was caused by a gas explosion after a truck hit some gas cylinders stacked in a gas processing plant located near the corporation’s system 2B Pipeline Right of Way.
The incident claimed several lives, leaving many others injured and properties worth millions of Naira destroyed.
A press statement issued on Sunday night by NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Mr Kennie Obateru, disclosed that after the agency received a report of the explosion, it quickly halted ongoing pumping operations on the Atlas Cove-Mosimi pipeline, which was active at the time, so as to minimise the danger.
Mr Obateru explained that preliminary findings indicated that the impact of the explosion was so huge that it led to the collapse of nearby houses and damage to NNPC pipeline on which efforts are being made to curtail the resultant fire.
According to him, the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mr Mele Kyari, and other top management of the national oil company, have departed to Lagos this evening for an on-the-spot assessment at the scene of the incident.
He said NNPC had already mobilised its in-house combined team consisting of Health Safety Environment experts, Medical and Security personnel from its nearby Satellite Depot in Lagos, even as Lagos State Fire Service was also rallied to extinguish the fire.
He said more fire firefighting personnel and equipment were mobillised from the NNPC Mosimi Area Office to provide extra fillip to the ongoing operation.
While assuring members of the public and residents of the affected communities to remain calm, the NNPC’s spokesman assured that the temporary shutdown of the petroleum products pipeline would not affect the normal supply of products to the Lagos and its environs.
He said the fire, currently burning at a controlled condition, was being fought headlong, saying a detailed assessment of the incident was underway to establish the extent of damage to the pipeline.
Mr Obateru said the NNPC Group Managing Director commiserated with the victims of the incident, praying that God provides them succour at this hour.
Adedapo Adesanya