Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — Tragedy was on Sunday averted in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, after a petrol tanker laden with 33,000 litres of premium motor spirits fell on its side, spilling all its content under the flyover bridge in Rumuokoro.
SweetCrude Reports gathered that the incident occured in the early hours of Sunday, when the fuel truck in trying to negotiate a bend from Ikwerre Road into East-West Road, failed its brakes and lost its balance.
This led the truck to fell on its side and spilled all its content into the road and drainages, which caused the product to flood the entire area, flowing from Rumuokoro flyover to Rumuodomaya axis of Airport Road, even up to Obio/Akpor Local Government Area Secretariat in Rumuodomaya.
Eyewitnesses say it took the swift intervention of men of the Federal Fire Service, Nigerian Police Force and the Obio/Akpor LGA Chairman, Mr George Ariolu, to cordoned off the area and close down the flyover from vehicular movement to prevent fire outbreak.
One of the eye witness, identified as Nnamdi, local vigilante group were also on ground to drive away people who came with kegs and jerrycans to scoop the spilled fuel.
He added that the incident occurred between 6:30 amd and 7:am, but for the help of relevant agencies on ground, who averted the disaster that could have occurred, as motorists were advised to take alternate routes until the truck was pulled away.
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