Disaster was on Saturday averted at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos after a tanker conveying Premium Motor Spirit lost balance and spilled its contents on the major road leading to the nation’s busiest airport.
It was gathered that the incident which occurred about 10a.m caused heavy vehicular traffic around the airport and its environs for several hours.
A reliable source from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) Fire Service Department, that the disaster was averted by the prompt action taken by both FAAN fire fighters and the Lagos State Fire Fighters.
He said: “The truck lost balance and spilled its content very close to the Airport Garage which is the road leading to the airport from Ikeja.
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“Fire fighters responded quickly and diluted the contents with a ” foam blanket”, to prevent any fire outbreak.
“Also, some officers were quickly deployed to the nearby FAAN residential quarters to monitor the situation.”
Joseph Alabi, spokesperson for the Lagos Airport Police Command, who also confirmed the incident, commended the roles played by all agencies to avert the disaster.
Alabi said following the incident, the Police from Area F Command and traffic officials embarked on rerouting vehicles coming and going into the airport to ease the traffic gridlock.
He said vehicles coming from Ikeja were directed to use the newly constructed Airport Road via Oshodi while those exiting were diverted to the MMA1 to link up with the Agege Motor Road via National.
Efforts were being made to tow the fallen truck away as at the time of filing this report.
