Four feared dead as NNPC Apapa jetty catches fire

A fire outbreak on Monday at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Apapa loading jetty is said to have claimed lives, even though the number of the dead was still sketchy as at the time of filing in this report.

According to findings by the Nigerian Tribune, there was a fire outbreak at the jetty when hoodlums scrambled to scoop fuel which had spilled during its discharge from a ship. Following the spill, a fire outbreak occurred and claimed lives, even though eyewitness reports later stated that only four people died.

When contacted on the issue, the Spokesman of the Maritime Guard Command of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), Sadiq Olatunde said the dead have been evacuated while police officers are everywhere to forestall any further breakdown of law and order.

“Our men are on ground to ensure sanity in the area. The dead have been evacuated. I cannot give you the numbers of those dead for now, but we will issue a statement to that effect soon,” Olatunde explained.

The NNPC had earlier in the day, following the fire outbreak, assured motorists and other consumers of petroleum products nationwide, that the fire incident which occurred at Apapa loading jetty at the early hours of today will not affect supply of petroleum products.

“Already, NNPC has deployed a team of engineers to the jetty while the repair of the affected parts would commence immediately.

“The fire was sparked from the activities of hoodlums who were scooping fuels spilled from ships discharging fuels at the jetty.

“NNPC Group Managing Director, Dr Maikanti Baru, who has been fully briefed on the incident, described the occurrence as unfortunate, assuring that NNPC has more than 1.6 billion litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise called petrol, enough to last for 48 days.

“Dr Baru also said the Corporation also had in stock, sufficient quantity of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), also known as diesel, Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK), otherwise referred to as kerosene, as well as Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK) to serve the country.

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“NNPC advised motorists not to engage in panic paying, adding that they report any challenge they may have in the course of purchasing to the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) which is statutorily empowered to deal with such issues. DPR has offices located in all parts of the country.

Meanwhile, the government is working assiduously to arrive at an amicable resolution of outstanding issues with the industry unions,” NNPC stated in the statement.