A Tanker fully loaded with Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) exploded on Thursday at Chab Filling Station in Aba, Abia State, destroying properties worth over N130 million.
Eyewitnesses claimed the fire outbreak began at about noon and lasted two hours before emergency responders put out the fire at the location which is opposite Star Paper Mill.
Firefighters from the state fire service arrived from Aba and Umuahia stations to put out the fire.
Speaking on the incident, Arua Nnanna, the Chief Fire Officer of Abia State Fire Service said the incident was totally avoidable.
Nnanna said the service had warned owners of fuel stations to always discharge their products when the intensity of the sun’s heat is not high.
“I got a distress call in Umuahia that there is a fuel tanker fire in Aba so I had to send two trucks from our Aba station at Constitution Crescent and by the time I got the second call, it was for assistance from Aba because of the intensity of the fire.
“So I pushed the trucks in Umuahia down to Aba to ensure that everything was put under control.”
The tanker was discharging and that discharge resulted in a fire outbreak. The tanker was loaded with 33,000 litres of PMS.
The fire outbreak is suspected to have been caused by the fuel station’s failure to heed earlier warnings to stop discharging fuel at the peak of the heat of the sun.