Men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) on Wednesday engaged residents of Jalingo, particularly the youths from scooping fuel from a tanker at an accident scene.
Jalingo youths were seen on Wednesday in their numbers, scooping fuel from a fallen fuel laden tanker at Mile 6 Market along Jalingo – Numan Road despite recent reports of such explosions killing a number of people in some parts of the country.
The tanker was involved in an accident at Mile 6 Roundabout, directly beside the market at about 11:45 am.
Though most of the market men and women rushed to close their shops for fear of fire explosion, youths within the area were seen trooping out of their houses with cans and buckets, scooping fuel leaking from the fallen tanker.
It took intervention of men of the NSCDC, who drove to the scene to chase away the youths with many youths already taken away hundreds of litres before the arrival of the security men.
Some of the youths positioned drums few meters away from the scene where they were seen depositing the fuel they scooped from the tanker.
Spokesperson of the NSCDC, Taraba State Command, Mr. Illia Samuel confirmed the incident to LEADERSHIP when contacted.
Samuel stressed that the Command urgently drafted its men to the accident scene to avert explosion and casualties.
“Immediately we got information about the accident, the command drafted our men to the scene to avert any occurrences that could lead to casualties. We are going to ensure that the areas is safe, both for residents and travelers,” he said.
