There is an imminent disaster at a Liquefied Petroleum Gas and Fuel filling station at Bunso Junction in the Eastern region.
Some women roast ripped plantain while others fry yam and potatoes with naked fire about 150 meters away from the Gas filling station creating a flammable environment recipe for disaster to strike in case of accidental leakage of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).
The situation becomes more dangerous whenever fuel or LPG is being offloaded into the storage tank.
Apart from this development, there is a lorry station nearby while other squatters have encroached the compound of the LPG gas and fuel stations engaging in brisk activities
Recently, the gas dispenser pump was gutted by fire after lightning struck, luckily, it occurred at night when the squatters had closed
The timely intervention of the fire service Personnel helped to save the situation preventing it from spreading to the Pressure vessel.
The explosion of the pressure vessel would have been disastrous as the gas filling station is also close to the Goil fuel filling station and surrounded by a radio station, hotel, restaurant, and shops.
Manager of the facility Benjamin Sam said, “yesterday in the night around 10:30pm the was heavy rain and then we received a message from our officers on-site at the gas filling station that the gas pump dispenser has caught fire so this morning we’ve come around to access the situation together with engineers. It was fortunate for the incident to happen in the night. If it had happened during the daytime properties and lives would have been lost because of the gas station and then the operation of lorry station and then petty traders who used naked fire their food around the gas station” He said.
According to the manager, the activities of the squatters remain a major threat to the safety around the gas filling station however; all efforts to get the squatters relocated by the Fanteakwa South District Assembly have not been successful despite several petitions sent.
“We have drawn the attention of the assembly to it, we’ve had an engagement with executives of the transport owners, petty traders on the issue but nothing fruitful has come out. Environmental Protection Agency – Eastern regional officer is also aware. Currently, we have a petition to that effect to the Regional Minister. We don’t want a disaster to happen in the Future” said Benjamin Sam, manager.
While some of the squatters are willing to be relocated considering the imminent danger, others rather want the gas filling station to be relocated for their source of livelihood.
Source: Mybrytfmonline.com/Obed Ansah
