Driver’s Mate With No Training Caused Fire – NPA Interim Report

The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has released an interim report about the October 7 gas explosion. According to report, the explosion happened after a driver’s mate with no training in handling LPG was given the task of discharging the highly inflammable substance at a station.
However, the driver’s mate took to his heels after he failed to stop the gas from leaking at the gas station at Madina Atomic Junction in Accra.
This failure to stop the gas from leaking, allowed the gas to spread which led to the tragic explosion that has left seven dead in Ghana’s eighth gas explosion in the past three years.

Kweku Baako read the 8-page preliminary report on Newsfile on Joy News channel on Multi TV. The contents were corroborated by NPA Chief Executive Hassan Tampuli who called into the show to make a submission.
He explained that a driver with the LPG Truck Drivers and Installers Association parked the gas tanker at the Atomic Junction premises of the gas station. For reasons yet to be explained, the driver “moved away and left the exercise of discharging the gas in hands of the mate.”
After encountering challenges with the discharge, the mate whose name is undisclosed, immediately took to his heels.
Hassan Tampuli said the gas-charging truck was not among the recognised Oil Marketing Companies.
What this means is that, the gas station went against the standard operating procedure by engaging a third party without special clearance from the NPA. The revelations could fuel calls for the operators of the gas station to be sued in the wake of accusations of negligence.