SAN FRANCISCO, November 18, (THEWILL) – A rustic pipeline belonging to the Pipeline and Petroleum Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) which got burst on Monday in Warri, Delta State, has resulted into a raging fire.
The incident has however sent hundreds of residents within the Effurun metropolis packing as the fire continues to rage for more than two days without any effort to put it off by PPMC officials.
The inferno also caused multiple explosions from the ruptured pipeline, forcing residents to scamper for safety. One of the residents told THEWILL that the explosion was from a rustic line which got burst early September but couldn’t be contained by NNPC reportedly due to the difficult terrain.
Although no casualty has been reported in the incident, sources told THEWILL that hundreds of residents from “mammy market area”, a densely populated area for low income earners, were evacuated, with some hospitalised due to the hazardous carbon burning from the spill site.
Sources said that although some fire fighters were sighted around 7:40pm on Tuesday night battling to gain access to the site, the fire raged on through Wednesday with a thick billow of smoke enveloping the Warri metropolis.
Ironically, the area impacted by the raging fire is also a few metres away from Nigerian Army Barracks, Effurun which has several inflammable military hardware and served as residential area for soldiers of Joint Task Force and 222 battalion Effurun.
THEWILL learnt that dense clouds of black smoke still billowed out of the “Mammy Market area” that was ablaze and could be seen from NPA expressway within the twin city of Effurun and Warri metropolis on Wednesday evening
Meanwhile, some residents of Effurun in Uvwie Local Government Area of the State have threatened to press criminal charges against NNPC for alleged negligence for leaving the fire to constitute health nuisance to residents who have been reportedly inhaling carbon monoxide which is dangerous to health since the incident.
