Fire At Petrol Station

An explosion of a huge petrol tanker caused fear and panic fuel among attendants of Universal Oil Filling Station at Agric Kokode in Kumasi, and residents in the vicinity, on Tuesday morning.

A Kia truck with registration number AS 3159 D, which was parked at the station, caught fire when the driver of the car tried sparking the vehicle around 7am.

A huge petrol tanker which was stationed at the filling station also caught fire, resulting in a huge blast which sent people around running for cover.

Luckily, no casualties were recorded in the inferno which lasted for almost an hour before people around could douse it with sand and water, DAILY GUIDE gathered.

The inferno however consumed the Kia truck, whose engine started the fire, in minutes, with the driver managing to jump from the truck and fleeing, sources hinted the paper.

Initial reports that the fire had claimed human lives and caused severe injuries to other people were later proven to be untrue.

When DAILY GUIDE visited the Universal Oil Filling Station at Agric Kokode around 9am, the fire had been successfully doused, with personnel of Universal Oil busily attending to clients that were fueling their cars.

Briefing DAILY GUIDE about the incident, Baba Iddrisu, Supervisor, Universal Oil, expressed sadness over the fire outbreak.

According to him, the driver of the Kia truck usually parked his vehicle on the premises of the station in the evening after work and moved it the following day.

Iddrisu said the driver of the Kia truck was igniting the engine of his vehicle for the day's work when the truck, which had a battery problem, caught fire in the engine area.

The driver of the truck, sensing danger, jumped from the car and shouted to draw the attention of people around to come and help douse the blaze which was gaining momentum.

Iddrisu noted that before the people around, including himself, could go near the burning car, the huge tanker with petrol that was positioned a few meter away had caught fire.

The petrol tanker, he disclosed, exploded minutes after the fire had spread to it.

He noted that no one got injured, adding that staff of the filling station and Good Samaritans around later on mustered courage and picked sand and water to douse the fire.

  FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi