Stuck in traffic at Banda, Kyambogo along Jinja road, a concerned citizen photographed and warned area residents to beware of ‘petrol overflowing and jetting under high pressure from all storage tanks’ at MOGAS (Maestro Oil & Gas Solutions).
“The depot for Mogas petrol at Banda may catch fire any moment from now. The control systems failed and petrol is overflowing and jetting under high pressure from all the storage tanks. A term we refer to as bust in NWSC. Several fire brigade tanks are camped waiting for the next action at Banda. Avoid that road for now if possible until otherwise,” said the ‘concerned citizen’ post on social media that went viral in a matter of minutes.
But MOGAS’ communications and public relations department in a critical response to negative publicity says there’s lots of malice and misinformation in the message.
“Please be informed that It was only a fire drill test and not a fire outbreak like some of the messages going around social media depicted. Safety in all its aspects is our priority,” MOGAS responded.
Here is the full statement.
Mogas Banda depot a ticking bomb – Police
The Banda MOGAS tanks are on a hill slope followed by a slum that stretches into the valley with considerable human population. Above the tanks is a main road; the Nakawa-Banda- Bweyogere route.
“I fear that one day a vehicle may veer off the road and into the tanks as the main route above the tanks also features a junction and that place is susceptible to accidents or one of the petroleum trucks maybe delivering the product to or from the tanks and its breaks fail,” says Joseph Mugisa the Uganda Police Fire department director.
“It will ram down into the tanks and trigger an explosion.”
“In 2013, explosions from petroleum tanker involved in an accident along the Northern Bypass killed 40 people injuring many. That was just about six to 7,000 litres of fuel. Imagine the carnage on both property and human life the 300,000 to a million litres that these storage tanks would leave behind.”
