Posted by From Shola O'Neil, Warri on
Residents are fleeing their homes in Effurun, Uvwie Local Government Area and parts of Okpe Local Government Area, Delta State because of a raging fire at a pipeline of the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC).
Residents are fleeing their homes in Effurun, Uvwie Local Government Area and parts of Okpe Local Government Area, Delta State because of a raging fire at a pipeline of the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC).
The fire reportedly broke out at about midnight on Tuesday and was yet to be put out at press time yesterday.
Panic-stricken residents feared that the inferno could lead to a major disaster if it spreads to some petrol filling stations on the busy Warri-Benin highway.
Although what caused the fire was yet to be ascertained, officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) believed that it was set off by vandals' attack on the facility.
The fire consumed acres of farmland and damaged vegetations around the Effurun Motor Park.
Attempts to get the General Manager, Public Affairs of the NNPC, Mr. Levy Ajuonuma, to comment on the incident, were futile. His mobile phone was switched off.
The communities on the fire path, including the Nigeria Army, Effurun Barracks, which has a checkpoint around the area, have contacted the PPMC office in Warri.
Similarly, a source at Warri Depot said: "We are doing everything to put out the fire and effect repairs as soon as possible and I am sure that within the next few hours the fire would be put out."
The pipeline and similar facilities that convey crude oil to the northern parts of the country have become easy targets for vandals and other miscreants, it was learnt.
NNPC officials said PPMC's facilities have been ruptured at over 200 points in Okpe, Ethiope West and Sapele local governments within the past one year.
Such incidents, sources said, have become a regular occurrence in Adeje, Opuraja, Ibada-Elume and Okwabude communities in the last few months