Panic as thunder sets NNPC depot on fire

Fire on Wednesday engulfed the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation deport in the Pogo area of Minna and consumed one of the storage tanks before it was brought under control

Although the cause of the fire was not made public by the depot officials, our correspondent gathered that it might have resulted from the lightning that struck the facility during torrential rain at about 8.30pm

Eyewitnesses said the inferno lasted for over four hours before it was put off by the joint efforts of the depot fire fighters and men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.

It was learnt that the thunder arrestor of the tank that was struck by thunder was stolen few months ago.

Two of the thunder arrestors were said to have been stolen from the depot in February, forcing the management, in a memo to the security firm handling the facility, to ban workers of a contracting company from entering the facility.