The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says the explosion that rocked Lagos Sunday morning happened when a truck hit gas cylinders around the corporation’s pipeline right of way.
This is contrary to speculations of pipeline vandalism and even bombing as the cause.
Some boarding students were stranded and more than 50 houses were affected by the explosion that occurred in the Abule Ado area of Lagos.
Kennie Obateru, NNPC’s public affairs manager, said preliminary findings indicated that the impact of the explosion was so huge it led to the damage to an NNPC pipeline.
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The cylinders were said to be stacked in a gas processing plant located near the corporation’s system 2B pipeline right of way.
Obateru said following the report of the explosion, the corporation quickly halted ongoing pumping operations on the Atlas Cove-Mosimi pipeline which was active at the time.
The NNPC’s spokesman however assured that the temporary shutdown of the petroleum products pipeline would not affect the normal supply of products to the Lagos and its environs.
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He said NNPC had already mobilised its in-house combined team consisting of health safety environment experts, medical and security personnel from its nearby satellite depot in Lagos.
According to him, more fire firefighting personnel and equipment were also mobillised from the NNPC Mosimi area to provide extra fillip to the ongoing operation.
He said the fire, still burring at controlled condition, was being fought headlong, and that a detail assessment of the incident was underway to establish the extent of damage to the pipeline.
He also added that Mele Kyari, group managing director, and other top management members of the corporation have departed to Lagos for an on-the-spot assessment at the scene of the incident.
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