The Liquefied Petroleum Gas Retailers (LPGAR), branch of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), has revealed the cause of the explosion that occurred at Ladipo Spare Part Market on Tuesday.
The body in its clarification said that the unfortunate incident was caused by acetylene gas, contrary to the widely held belief that the explosion was caused by Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), popularly referred to as cooking gas. This disclosure is contained in a statement issued by the National Secretary of LPGAR, Mr Olukayode Solomon, on Wednesday in Lagos while commiserating with the families of the victims of the explosion.
Acetylene gas is an industrial gas that is used in the fabrication industry for activities such as welding, cutting, brazing and other related industrial activities. It is an extremely flammable gas and can form an explosive atmosphere in the presence of air or oxygen.
What the top official of LPGAR is saying
According to NAN, Solomon pointed out that the incident was not in any way related to LPG.
He said: “It is important to state clearly that the outlet in which the explosion occurred was specifically an acetylene gas outlet. Acetylene gas is an industrial gas used for welding, cutting and other related industrial activities.
“Acetylene gas is often sold alongside oxygen gas which is equally an industrial gas. The explosions of these industrial gasses often cause wide-scale destruction similar to military bombs unlike LPG explosion which often causes inferno.”
He said that damage arising from LPG explosion usually comes as a result of the spread of its inferno based on the level of gas leakage and spread.
Going further, Solomon said, “On the contrary, industrial gasses such as acetylene and oxygen usually pull down structures around the scene of the explosion because of the high pressure of the industrial gasses as well as the very heavy weight of the industrial gas cylinders.
“Also, acetylene and oxygen gasses do not use the same cylinders used for LPG as exemplified by the type of cylinders that littered around the scene of the explosion yesterday.
“It is equally important to note that acetylene and oxygen gasses are not derived from the same sources as LPG.’’
He explained that the acetylene gas is not regulated by the same agency that regulates LPG which was derived from petroleum and natural gas and regulated by the former Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) now replaced with Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority.
He said, “The regulation of acetylene gas, oxygen gas and the other related gasses is presently located within the federal ministry in charge of industry.
“These clarifications have become necessary to forestall further misrepresentation of facts whenever an explosion relating to gas occurs.
“We equally use this opportunity to implore the media as a whole to always seek clarifications before publication. This is because this particular misrepresentation has been a regular occurrence in the recent time.’’
In case you missed it
Recall that yesterday, 5 persons were reported killed in a gas explosion that occurred at Ladipo Market area in Mushin Local Government Area of Lagos State.
The explosion occurred on Tuesday morning at the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) domestic retail centre located on Ojekunle Street at the popular Ladipo Spare Parts Market, causing several others to sustain varying degrees of injuries.
The use of fire extinguisher should be kept in the gasoeline area and government should lay down rules on the usage.