A tank farm belonging to Nigerian firm, MRS, and a ship exploded on Wednesday at the Tin Can Island, Apapa area of Lagos while the ship was offloading premium motor spirit (PMS) popularly called petrol into it.
The ship and the tank farm immediately caught fire while efforts by Fire Service officials yielded little reward.
The explosion, which shook several residential and office buildings in the area, also resulted in severe injuries to four people. No life was, however, lost in the incident.
As thick smoke spread across the Tin Can area after the explosion, several residents scampered for safety, causing heavy confusion. Motorists also made attempts to rush out of the area and this resulted in serious traffic gridlock for several hours.
As the fire raged, other oil companies and tanker drivers quickly moved out their vehicles and other very important materials while fire fighters prevented the fire from spreading. Men of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) were also on hand to assist in putting out the fire.
Confirming the incident, an official of NEMA, Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, disclosed that the fire started while a ship was trying to discharge into an oil tank owned by MRS.
“But I don’t yet have any details as to what led to the fire,” he said, adding that his colleagues were making efforts to isolate the ship in order to make it easy to put out the fire.
He, however, expressed certainty that the explosion began from the ship and spread to the tank farm because it was offloading its contents into the tank farm at the period.
As a result of the incident, other oil companies around the area immediately shut down activities for safety reasons.
