13 petrol tankers catch fire @ Tema

 
From John Bediako, Tema
At least, three persons, including a fire officer, sustained various degrees of injury when fire consumed 13 tankers loaded with petroleum products ready for export.

Only two of the loaded tankers were spared by the raging inferno.

It took fire tenders drawn from Accra and Tema several hours before bringing the imferno under control.

The Chronicle’s investigations revealed that the cause of the fire could be traced to the short circuiting of storage battery terminals.

The Chronicle was told that last Friday the tankers were loaded from one of the fuel depots outside the Tema Oil Refinery for export to Lome by one Avorsu.

After loading, the paper gathered that the Assistant Commissioner of Customs, Mr Delor, in charge of the refinery, was proceeding on retirement, hence the service organised a pullout ceremony for him.

The report had it that all the Customs officers left to attend the function, hence documentation was not completed, and so the drivers were asked to go and park at a safe place and complete the process on Monday.

It was during the period of being kept in the safe yard that the fire started.

The Chronicle was reliably informed that the product for export was fully paid for by the said Mr Avorsu, insurance also provided, for not only the fuel, but also tankers, drivers and their mates.