Death of 20 in tanker accidents in Gombe: DPR tasks government  

The Gombe field office of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has called on the Gombe state Government to immediately take preventive measures on the popular southern bye-pass road where no fewer than 20 persons lost their lives in two tanker accidents within five days.

Mr. Abdullahi Abawa, the Gombe State Controller, who made the call during a press briefing said, the fatal fuel tanker accident of 13th April, 2019 claimed the lives of 10 persons on the spot while another eight died much later.He said that in another accident five days after, two persons lost their lives in the same area, stressing that this calls for serious concern and action by the State’s authorities.

According to him, the DPR had to raise concern because it was particularly unhappy with the casualties recorded during the two unfortunate incidents that occurred on the same road.

He said though DPR does not have firefighting equipment, it however did its best in the circumstance it found itself. “Eye witness accounts show that all the accidents occurred as a result of brake failure of the two trucks conveying petroleum products”, he added.

He therefore called on the Gombe State Government to immediately provide preventive measures against the re-occurrence of such accidents since the essence of a bye-pass road was to create alternative routes out of the main town, stressing that, “it is no longer a bye-pass since it is no more safe for all road users including pedestrians”.

Mr. Abawa urged the Gombe State Government to immediately reactivate its fire fighting unit and make it more function by providing modern firefighting equipment.

He also called on the NNPC, IPMAN, NUPENG and other stakeholders in the oil and gas sector to be visibly seen bringing quick response to such tragedies by also acquiring firefighting equipment in the case of NNPC and IPMAN and in the case of NUPENG, to see to the training f tanker drivers on all safety measures.