Petrol Station

Onyebuchi Ezigbo 
in  Abuja


What would have been a major human disaster was yesterday averted by sheer providence when a fuel tanker belonging to MRS Petroleum Limited caught fire while discharging fuel at one the company’s facilities along Gwarinpa-Kubwa Expressway.

The incident which occurred at about 5.45.pm saw the entire fuel station covered with thick smoke from the tanker fire.

The filling station is known to always have heavy stock of product and as such  there is usually lengthy queue of motorists seeking to buy fuel everyday at the place.

However, as luck would have it, many motorist who  had lined up all day to buy fuel just escaped being caught up in the fire by the whiskers.

The motorists left the filling station after the staff told them that fuel had been exhausted, in good time before the tanker off-loading fuel suddenly bust into flames.

Just as no motorist was affected by the fire, also none of the staff of the petrol station suffered any major injury as everyone scampered for safety as soon as the fire broke out.

It took the Fire Service men from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command less than an hour to put out the inferno.  

What could be seen after the fire had been put out was the charred remains of the tanker and some burnt sections of the station.

Staff of the station who spoke to THISDAY said the fire may have been caused by a metal spark which immediately spread like wild fire.