Fire fighters avert tragedy after fuel tankers go up in flames
Tragedy was averted yesterday when three tankers, fully loaded with fuel products, went up in flames at the Tanker Yard near the Kpone Barrier in Tema.
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The vehicles, with registration numbers GB 1488-12, AS 3975 V and GB 1491 -12, which were parked within the premises of a garage, suddenly exploded.
It took personnel of the Fire Service about 40 minutes to bring the ravaging fire under control and prevent it from spreading to nearby factories.
Even though the cause of the explosion is yet to be ascertained, some eyewitnesses suspect one of the tankers might have developed a mechanical fault.
There were no casualties.
Brief
The Operations Officer in charge of the Devtraco Courts Fire Station, Assistant Divisional Officer II Mr John Abeiku Blankson, who confirmed the incident to the Daily Graphic, acknowledged that his team had a hectic time fighting the fire, noting that they had to rally support from five other fire stations to eventually bring the fire under control.
He said investigations had commenced to establish the actual cause of the fire.
According to him, his outfit received a distress call about a fire outbreak near the Kpone Barrier some few minutes after 10 a.m. yesterday.
He said looking at the magnitude of the fire, they had to call for reinforcement from the Ashaiman,Tema Regional Headquarters and other nearby stations to support in extinguishing the fire.
He said it took the personnel about 30 minutes to confine the fire and finally extinguish it 10 minutes later.
Mechanical fault
A security man at the garage, who refused to mention his name, said one of the tankers developed a fault and a mechanic was called in to fix it.
He said moments after the mechanic had left, smoke was detected from the faulty truck when it was about to set off. It suddenly caught fire, which spread to the two tankers parked nearby.
