Palpable fear, on Monday, gripped the residents of Eric Moore Road, Surulere, Lagos following a gas pipeline that leaked in the area.
The incident occurred in the afternoon when some of the residents noticed the leakage near Flour Mills/Bagco area.
Eye witnesses account said as soon as the leakage was noticed, some of the residents ran helter-skelter while others alerted their loved ones about the development.
It was gathered that scores of residents abandoned the area for fear of the unknown.
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However, the Nigeria Gas Marketing Company was said to have isolated the line while fire services both from state and federal levels were on the ground to prevent possible explosions in the area as people were advised to stay away from the area.
At press time, Lagos State Acting Coordinator, National Emergency Management Agency NEMA, Ibrahim Farinloye, who confirmed the incident said the situation has been brought under control and responders have dispersed from the scene.
He said:
The line has been having issues before now as the scene has been excavated while the valves are exposed.
This development is coming exactly one year after an explosion at a gas processing plant killed at least 15 people and destroyed about 50 buildings in Abule-Ado area of Lagos.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said the explosion was triggered after a truck hit some gas cylinders stacked in a gas processing plant near the corporation’s pipeline in Abule Ado area of Lagos state.
The impact of the explosion led to the collapse of nearby houses, damaged NNPC’s pipeline and caused the corporation to halt pumping operations on the Atlas Cove-Mosimi pipeline, the state-owned oil company said in a statement.
Several people were injured and taken to hospital, according to Ibrahim Farinloye, zonal coordinator for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).