Tragedy Averted As Gas Tanker Crashes In Edo

Okomu Oil Palm Plc has revealed how it stopped an imminent gas explosion.

The company says it averted a possible gas explosion after a tanker carrying Liquefied Natural Gas lost control and fell along the Benin-Akure Expressway in the Uhiere community, the Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State.

The firm, in a statement on Monday, said its fire service department brought the situation under control.

It said the intervention in Uhiere came barely six months after it averted what could have been a major fire disaster in the Owan community in the same local government area.

The statement partly read, “The company has once again come to the rescue of another community by averting a possible gas explosion in Uhiere community along the Benin-Akure Expressway in the Ovia North East Local Government Area.

“The incident happened when the driver of a tanker carrying liquefied natural gas lost control of his truck and in the process fell along the ever-busy Benin-Akure Expressway.”

PUNCH Metro gathered that the tanker loaded with the LNG was heading towards Akure from the Benin axis when it entered into one of the failed portions of the road which resulted in the tanker driver allegedly losing control and falling.

A distress call was said to have been made to the Okomu Fire Service at the company’s Extension 2 plantation, and officials responded before the tanker could burst into flames.

It was further gathered that no life was lost in the incident apart from the driver of the tanker who sustained a minor injury.

Reacting, the firm’s Communication Officer, Fidelis Olise, was quoted as saying, “A distress call came from a member of Uhiere community asking for the assistance of the company and immediately the management dispatched its fire truck and personnel to the scene in an act of good neighbourliness.

“The swift response of the company’s fire team is in line with its commitment to collaborate with the government and other stakeholders to secure the lives and properties of people, especially those within the catchment areas where it operates.”