Companies involved in fire disasters to pay compensation to deceased families

Cross River State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) has said that it will compel companies involved in the Sunday fire disasters where it was alleged that over 30 persons died and another 30 suffered various degrees of burnt to pay compensation to the deceased families.

Speaking with our correspondent on phone on Tuesday, the SEMA Director General, Mr John Inaku who lamented the situation said that his agency has started compiling names of the affected households and looking forward to assisting them.

“SEMA is working toward assisting those who are still alive and we are equally looking toward those who lose their lives and say, those companies involved to pay good compensation and also considering so many other ways to assist the victims” he stated.

Meanwhile, the death toll of Sunday fire disasters at the Calabar Free Trade Zone (CFTZ) in Cross River State is increasing per day as over three persons who were obtaining treatment at the hospital have been reported dead. It would be recalled that over 30 persons were allegedly burnt to dead when fire engulfed part of the Calabar Free Trade Zone (CFTZ) in the early hours of Sunday while 30 others suffered various degrees of burns.

Daily Times gathered that the tragic incident which emanated from LINC Oil & Gas started at about 1.20 am on Sunday was caused by negligence and alleged sabotage by some individuals working in the oil firm.

Investigations revealed that a worker was trying to siphoned PMS from a vessel and opened one of the valves in a bid to siphon fuel, unfortunately the gasket on the valve failed and the pressure threw him off then the product started pouring into the gutter.

An eye witness who gave his name as Ikenga Uti said PMS flowed from that valve to the gutter and people started scooping it with various containers some came with drums while some came with stainless steel buckets as well as rubber buckets.

“It was in the process of scooping that the fire started from outside and followed the product trail in the gutter back to LINC oil and gas and to Nigeria ports Authority (NPA) where it entered a vessel also loaded with PMS but was put off by the people on board, as am talking to you, we brought out 8 bodies from LINC oil and gas and about six people who were scooping fuel outside the gate also died.”

“The people scooping said that the fire was sparked by somebody who was smoking cigarette close to one of the gutters that the product was flowing through while some said it was a spark from one of the stainless steel buckets but all that doesn’t matter anymore

Another witness who pleaded anonymity said that incident was caused due to greed and pure sabotage. The fire was due to illegal activities in one of the tank farms. “For now I can tell you that the safety manager and some security personnel from the company are dead, this is a tragedy was caused because someone was greedy.”

“The person who opened that valve caused this whole thing they were trying to steal PMS, he didn’t know there will be leakage, the pressure was much that even threw him away and the fire started when people started scooping the fuel from outside before it spread to NPA and LINC oil and gas where the product leaked from.

According to him, the ship which was on the river nearby was supplying the product through pipes that passed through the premises of both tank farms. The distance between the ship and the tank farm is about a kilometre.

While supply was going on, a staff of one of the farms, identified as one Sunny, who it was gathered was not on duty that night, opened the pipes inside their premises to siphon petrol.