Four dead as NNPC Apapa wharf jetty is gutted by fire
September 19, 2017
The Petroleum Wharf Jetty in Apapa was gutted fire in the early hours of yesterday morning, leaving four people dead. The fire incident is believed to have been caused by hoodlums trying to scoop fuel from one of the manifolds.
A fuel laden vessel, Histria Ivory was dispensing its contents before being got besieged by the thugs who came to to bail away drippings from the vessel which resulted into an inferno that lasted for one hour and claimed four lives.
The jetty’s In-house fire unit made efforts to put out the fire but all proved abortive and was only quenched by the joint efforts of the Lagos State Fire Service and the Federal Fire Service soon joined to put out the fire.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Group Managing Director, Dr Maikanti Baru, spoke about the incident and he described the occurrence as unfortunate, assuring the public that the NNPC has more than 1.6 billion litres of Premium Motor Spirit, otherwise called petrol, enough to last for 48 days.
On his part, the NNPC Group General Manager,Public Affairs Division, Ndu Ughamadu affirms that: ‘The NNPC has deployed a team of engineers in the jetty, while the repair of the affected parts will commence immediately.The fire was caused by the activities of hoodlums who were scooping fuel spilled from ships discharging fuel at the jetty’.
