Saturday, November 23

For the Second Time in Two Weeks, Arepo Pipeline Fire Rages

AFTER the January 11 outbreak of fire that claimed the lives of suspected vandals tinkering with the inflammable petroleum pipelines in the village of Arepo in Ogun State, the pipelines in the same vicinity are again on fire as of Wednesday morning.

According to unnamed management officials of the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company, the pipeline blaze was the result of vandalism.

The pipeline affected is the System 2B pipeline in the village.

“The service manager of the pipeline has just confirmed to us that another round of vandalism has been observed at Arepo along the System 2B in the early hours of Wednesday,” a management official without authorization has said.

“I was told all concerned officials have been mobilized to the area to put off the fire,’’ the official said,” he added.

The number of casualty could not be ascertained as at the time of filing this report.

The System 2B pipeline at Arepo was vandalised barely 10 days after it was repaired.

Mr Ibrahim Farinloye, the South West Zonal Public Relations Officer of the National Emergency management Agency (NEMA), also confirmed the latest explosion.

He said that the agency had mobilised resources to move to the swampy area to put out the fire.

“We have mobilised resources to move to the explosion site and put out the fire,” Farinloye.

It would be the third time in the last few months that a petroleum pipeline in the area has been vandalized, including one the last on January 11 this year and August 30 of 2012, respectively.

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