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| A vandalised pipeline site at Arepo, Ogun State. | credits: File copy |
Pipeline vandals ruptured a pipeline
belonging to the Petroleum Products Marketing Company, a subsidiary of
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in Lagos on Monday, few weeks
after an explosion occurred at the Atlas Cove area of the state.
It was gathered that the pipeline was
vandalised at Ita-Iyalode, a community in Idimu, and the PPMC said a
major explosion was averted as officials of the National Emergency
Management Agency and the Lagos State Fire Service swiftly responded to
distress calls made to them by residents of the community.
NEMA and fire officials were said to
have prevented a possible explosion by sprinkling foam on the spilled
petrol, re-directed traffic and enlightened the residents about the
spills and how to manage it.
The Manager, Media Relations and
External Affairs, PPMC, Mr. Nasir Imodagbe, who confirmed the incident,
said, “A section of our pipeline was touched by pipeline vandals on
Monday. The rupture was caused by vandals trying to siphon petroleum
products from the pipeline.
“Our officials quickly rushed down to
the incident place to curb the fire from escalating to households and
ascertain the level of damage. Our men have secured the area and as I
speak, our engineers are fixing the ruptured points and it will be
completed on Tuesday (today).
“I need to state here that no life was
lost to the incident as our men spread foam to protect the spilled
products, thus ensuring that there is no fire incident.”
The PPMC spokesman said the line had
been shut down to allow officials to carry out repairs, and gave an
assurance that the line would be back on Tuesday (today).
Imodagbe further urged residents around the area not to panic, adding that everything was under control
It will be recalled that in August 2012,
similar attacks on PPMC pipelines in the state claimed over 100 lives,
while scores of people sustained varying degrees of injuries due to the
fire that accompanied the attacks.
Most of the victims were vandals who were caught in the act of siphoning refined petroleum products from the ruptured pipelines.
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